Carolyn Han has a Master’s Degree in English from San Diego State University. In 1985 she taught at Chongqing University, and later at Yunnan Minority Institute, Kunming, China.In 1989, she lectured at the University of Hawaii-Hilo and Hawaii Community College. She edited three collections of Chinese folktales: Tales from Within the Clouds (1997), The Demon King and Other Festival Folktales of China (1995), and Why Snails Have Shell (1993) which were published by the University of Hawaii Press. She also wrote children’s books: Koa’s Seed (Beach House Publishing, 2004), Ponopono (Island Heritage, 2001) and Kalapana (Island Heritage, 1999).In 2000, Carolyn traveled to Yemen to study Arabic. She then wrote: From the Land of Sheba: Yemeni Folk Tales (Interlink, 2005). Her book, Vanishing Spots, written in Arabic and English, was published in Lebanon (2012). With Bedouin she crossed the Ramlat as-Sab’atayn, Yemen’s desert, by camel. She wrote: Where the Paved Road End, a memoir set in Yemen (Potomac, 2012).In 2008, she left Yemen to live and work in Oman, and later lived in Egypt, Kosovo, and now Montenegro.

While living in Yemen, Carolyn Han was told a tale of two girls who disguised themselves as boys so they could fight in Yemen’s 1960s civil war. Fascinated by the story, but lacking further details, Han uses her knowledge of the war and Yemeni culture and society to create a captivating tale of girls who left their village to preserve family and tribal honor but are transformed by their daring choice. Abetted by the culture’s emphasis on body secrecy, the female fighters are able to pass as young men. Presenting themselves as Mohammed and Ali, they are caught up in the life of tribal warriors: struggling to move from camp to camp, hiding in caves from Egyptian airplanes, dealing with the effects of poison gas. Being bright and willing, they are taken under the tutelage of a British officer and advisor who opens their horizons by imparting rudimentary English and medical skills, knowledge unknown to illiterate village girls. Han’s paradoxical portrait of two young women challenging patriarchal practices even as they strive to preserve the rule of Yemen’s Imam against modernist forces provides a rich portrayal of Yemen and Islam.—Dr Thomas B. Stevenson, Anthropologist

Carolyn Han has a Master’s Degree in English from San Diego State University. In 1985 she taught at Chongqing University, and later at Yunnan Minority Institute, Kunming, China.In 1989, she lectured at the University of Hawaii-Hilo and Hawaii Community College. She edited three collections of Chinese folktales: Tales from Within the Clouds (1997), The Demon King and Other Festival Folktales of China (1995), and Why Snails Have Shell (1993) which were published by the University of Hawaii Press. She also wrote children’s books: Koa’s Seed (Beach House Publishing, 2004), Ponopono (Island Heritage, 2001) and Kalapana (Island Heritage, 1999).In 2000, Carolyn traveled to Yemen to study Arabic. She then wrote: From the Land of Sheba: Yemeni Folk Tales (Interlink, 2005). Her book, Vanishing Spots, written in Arabic and English, was published in Lebanon (2012). With Bedouin she crossed the Ramlat as-Sab’atayn, Yemen’s desert, by camel. She wrote: Where the Paved Road End, a memoir set in Yemen (Potomac, 2012).In 2008, she left Yemen to live and work in Oman, and later lived in Egypt, Kosovo, and now Montenegro.

While living in Yemen, Carolyn Han was told a tale of two girls who disguised themselves as boys so they could fight in Yemen’s 1960s civil war. Fascinated by the story, but lacking further details, Han uses her knowledge of the war and Yemeni culture and society to create a captivating tale of girls who left their village to preserve family and tribal honor but are transformed by their daring choice. Abetted by the culture’s emphasis on body secrecy, the female fighters are able to pass as young men. Presenting themselves as Mohammed and Ali, they are caught up in the life of tribal warriors: struggling to move from camp to camp, hiding in caves from Egyptian airplanes, dealing with the effects of poison gas. Being bright and willing, they are taken under the tutelage of a British officer and advisor who opens their horizons by imparting rudimentary English and medical skills, knowledge unknown to illiterate village girls. Han’s paradoxical portrait of two young women challenging patriarchal practices even as they strive to preserve the rule of Yemen’s Imam against modernist forces provides a rich portrayal of Yemen and Islam.—Dr Thomas B. Stevenson, Anthropologist

Carolyn Han has a Master’s Degree in English from San Diego State University. In 1985 she taught at Chongqing University, and later at Yunnan Minority Institute, Kunming, China.In 1989, she lectured at the University of Hawaii-Hilo and Hawaii Community College. She edited three collections of Chinese folktales: Tales from Within the Clouds (1997), The Demon King and Other Festival Folktales of China (1995), and Why Snails Have Shell (1993) which were published by the University of Hawaii Press. She also wrote children’s books: Koa’s Seed (Beach House Publishing, 2004), Ponopono (Island Heritage, 2001) and Kalapana (Island Heritage, 1999).In 2000, Carolyn traveled to Yemen to study Arabic. She then wrote: From the Land of Sheba: Yemeni Folk Tales (Interlink, 2005). Her book, Vanishing Spots, written in Arabic and English, was published in Lebanon (2012). With Bedouin she crossed the Ramlat as-Sab’atayn, Yemen’s desert, by camel. She wrote: Where the Paved Road End, a memoir set in Yemen (Potomac, 2012).In 2008, she left Yemen to live and work in Oman, and later lived in Egypt, Kosovo, and now Montenegro.

While living in Yemen, Carolyn Han was told a tale of two girls who disguised themselves as boys so they could fight in Yemen’s 1960s civil war. Fascinated by the story, but lacking further details, Han uses her knowledge of the war and Yemeni culture and society to create a captivating tale of girls who left their village to preserve family and tribal honor but are transformed by their daring choice. Abetted by the culture’s emphasis on body secrecy, the female fighters are able to pass as young men. Presenting themselves as Mohammed and Ali, they are caught up in the life of tribal warriors: struggling to move from camp to camp, hiding in caves from Egyptian airplanes, dealing with the effects of poison gas. Being bright and willing, they are taken under the tutelage of a British officer and advisor who opens their horizons by imparting rudimentary English and medical skills, knowledge unknown to illiterate village girls. Han’s paradoxical portrait of two young women challenging patriarchal practices even as they strive to preserve the rule of Yemen’s Imam against modernist forces provides a rich portrayal of Yemen and Islam.—Dr Thomas B. Stevenson, Anthropologist