Streams of Babel

Streams of Babel by Carol Plum-Ucci is about terrorism.

Taking place in 2002, the story is set in the small town of Trinity Falls, New Jersey. Cora Holman lives with and takes care of her mother. She knows little about her mother – she did not meet her until she was twelve. Her mother is a drug addict; due to an injury Cora knows little about, her mother gave up her career as a photographer and moved home to die. But when she does, Cora’s life is sent in a spin. Not because of her mother’s death but because of the cause.

Scott Ebberman, an EMT who works on the local ambulance, sees the signs in his mother that Cora’s mother died from. He is convinced that there is some new illness in the works. But what do the two women have common other than proximity? They did not know each other. Scott and his brother Owen were never great friends with Cora.

Across the planet in Pakistan, Shahzad Hamdani is working in his uncle’s Internet café. Not only does he work for his uncle, he works for the CIA. A suspected terrorist is using the café to contact others in a group that is talking about poisoning the water somewhere. Shahzad and his CIA handler have to track down the location before people start to get sick and die…

Plum-Ucci, Carol. (2008). Streams of Babel. New York: Harcourt, Inc.