Baghdad

Much of the novel takes place in the Iraqi capital. Murphy depicts Baghdad before the American invasion in Chapter 4 as a struggling, oppressive city but still a place where people live with a degree of normalcy and where families function and support each other. The electricity is spotty and people fear talking ill of Saddam, but for the most part daily life carries on. All of this changes when the Americans arrive. After the American invasion, Murphy depicts the decline of the Baghdad through the eyes of his foreign correspondent characters and Iraqi translators. When Rita first arrives, she is able to walk the streets with Nabil to conduct interviews. But the city gets progressively more dangerous until foreigners are confined to armored villas or the Green Zone. Suicide bombings, roadside bombings and kidnappings happen every day in the city as time progresses. When Rita leaves the city...