This is Sudah Garratti on the MEET MY CHARACTER BLOG TOUR

Thanks to the phenomenal Charmaine Gordon for tagging me, I get to highlight a character from a one of my published books. 

I chose to highlight Sudah Garratti from my EMS-themed novel, HYPHEMA.  By the way, Hyphema is a medical term referring to blood which pools in the eye after trauma.  Sudah comes from Pakistan and like many non-English speaking immigrants, American idioms are often confusing; when a threatening note arrives promising "an eye for an eye" she comments that only makes for bloody eyes.

Matt Garratti, a paramedic from New York, moves his wife and son to North Carolina to work at his dream job as a flight medic. Pakistani born Sudah, his wife, receives frosty stares and insensitive comments from their new neighbors... Matt wonders if he is pursuing his dream or bringing his family into a nightmare from which they may never wake.

1) What is the name of your character? Is she fictional?

Sudah Garratti, she is a fictional character. Her character was first introduced, in name only, in the novel Final Sin.

2) When and where is the story set?

Northeast North Carolina in contemporary times.  The story deals with real-life situations in a post 9/11 era. 

3) What should we know about her?

Sudah emigrated from her birth place in Pakistan. She met and married American born paramedic Matt Garratti while on an educational Visa in New York; she is studying to become an American citizen. They have a young son together. Matt moves his family to North Carolina to become a flight medic.

4) What is the main conflict?

Sudah’s skin-tone, clothing and Muslim faith makes her an outsider to a community that lived through the tragedy of 9/11. While most of Matt’s co-workers accept her cultural differences, there are others in their new community who find it hard to trust her. When the family is targeted with vandalism and threats, local law enforcement considers the acts to be an expected reaction to her presence and ignore the frightening seriousness and consequences.

5) What does she hope for?

Her husband and son are most important things to Sudah. She is a sincere and caring person who understands the hostility she encounters, but works very hard to be kind and compassionate to all. She wants to become an American citizen and raise her son in his father’s Christian faith so that he will be more accepted by others.

6) What is the novel’s title and where can we read more about it?

It’s called Hyphema and it is one of Chelle Cordero’s EMS-based suspense novels. Hyphema is available in print, e-book and audio and can be purchased from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, AllRomance, Kobo, and other online retailers. For more detail about the book, visit Chelle’s website at http://chellecordero.com/2011/04/12/hyphema/

7) When was the book published?

The 2nd edition was published August 2013

Please go visit Charmaine Gordon's MEET MY CHARACTER BLOG which posted last week

Charmaine Gordon writes books about women who Survive and Thrive. Her motto is take one step and then another to leave your past behind and begin again. With several books and short stories to her name, she’s always at work on the next story. The books include To Be Continued, Starting Over, Now What?, Reconstructing Charlie, Sin of Omission and The Catch, and her series of Mature Romances, The Beginning...Not the End. 

To reach Charmaine onine, visit: Facebook Blog & Website Twitter Please visit authors I've tagged to introduce their characters next
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