The Submission, by Amy Waldman, William Heineman, $29.95
New York, 2003. A citizens’ jury must decide which — of 5000 anonymous submissions — is the best design for a healing, heart-lifting memorial to the victims of 9/11.
They declare a winner, open the envelope … his name is Mohammed Khan. For this most sensitive job, they have picked a Muslim architect.
And his design can be interpreted as a tribute to Islam as much as to those who died at Ground Zero. So, can the jury recant? Should they? And why, given he’s a loyal American who’s won fair and square?
As Tsiolkas did with The Slap, Waldman explores how a single event can ignite a firestorm of grief, fury and conflicting principle, setting liberals against bigots, victims’ families against civil rights activists.
The result is a kaleidoscopic picture of a pivotal moment of American history — though told so personally, even the least likeable characters always feel real as they grapple with ambition and pain, race and politics.
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