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COLLATERAL DAMAGE: The Day My Family Became a Word
War does not ask who is innocent.
It does not care who is waiting at home.
And when it strikes, it leaves behind more than ruins.
In a quiet village shaped by love, sacrifice, and the fragile beauty of ordinary life, two parents build their world around the one thing that matters most, their child.
They dream.
They struggle.
They endure.
And through hardship, they create a life filled with hope.
Until in a single moment, everything is taken.
Collateral Damage is a deeply emotional literary novella about family, grief, and the unbearable cost of war. It is a heartbreaking story of love, loss, and the quiet tragedies hidden behind words the world learns too easily to forget.
For readers who are not afraid to feel everything.
It does not care who is waiting at home.
And when it strikes, it leaves behind more than ruins.
In a quiet village shaped by love, sacrifice, and the fragile beauty of ordinary life, two parents build their world around the one thing that matters most, their child.
They dream.
They struggle.
They endure.
And through hardship, they create a life filled with hope.
Until in a single moment, everything is taken.
Collateral Damage is a deeply emotional literary novella about family, grief, and the unbearable cost of war. It is a heartbreaking story of love, loss, and the quiet tragedies hidden behind words the world learns too easily to forget.
For readers who are not afraid to feel everything.
158 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 13, 2026
7 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Dilaware Khan
18 books2 followersDilaware Khan writes stories that live in silence, the kind that lingers in empty rooms and unanswered questions. His work explores the minds of people standing at the edge of sanity, of faith, of meaning. With quiet intensity, he captures the inner storms of those who cannot conform to the noise of the world.
Blending philosophy, emotion, and lyric minimalism, Khan’s fiction examines how language shapes truth, how memory resists erasure, and how conscience survives under control.
His prose is meditative yet sharp, driven by moral inquiry and the haunting beauty of thought. Khan’s writing does not offer comfort; it invites reflection. His characters do not seek escape, they seek understanding.
For readers drawn to the quiet rebellion of the human mind, his stories are not simply read, they are experienced.
Blending philosophy, emotion, and lyric minimalism, Khan’s fiction examines how language shapes truth, how memory resists erasure, and how conscience survives under control.
His prose is meditative yet sharp, driven by moral inquiry and the haunting beauty of thought. Khan’s writing does not offer comfort; it invites reflection. His characters do not seek escape, they seek understanding.
For readers drawn to the quiet rebellion of the human mind, his stories are not simply read, they are experienced.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 6, 2026
If ever there were a case for “don’t judge a book by its cover”, this would be it.
It took me a few chapters to become settled with the writing style of author, Dilaware Kahn. His prose is spare and dialogue minimalist. Hidden within the words are profound nuggets of observation:
“Care gives strength its use.”
“You are our tomorrow,” he said softly. “And our heart,” the mother answered.
“Hope, like coin, needed care if it was to last.”
“Strength, he thought, was not always swallowed. Sometimes it was chosen and carried.”
The story takes place in a small, Indigenous village. It begins at the time directly before the young man and woman become married. Readers will observe the details of building their hardscrabble lives, building their house and family.
Dust is everywhere and the author has a preoccupation with it. He’s also fond of repeating his own words. Entire passages are seemingly copied and pasted multiple times over throughout the manuscript.
None of the 3 characters is given a name nor is the setting identified. These contribute to an unsettling reading experience that compels continued page turning until the title becomes a realization - COLLATERAL DAMAGE📚
It took me a few chapters to become settled with the writing style of author, Dilaware Kahn. His prose is spare and dialogue minimalist. Hidden within the words are profound nuggets of observation:
“Care gives strength its use.”
“You are our tomorrow,” he said softly. “And our heart,” the mother answered.
“Hope, like coin, needed care if it was to last.”
“Strength, he thought, was not always swallowed. Sometimes it was chosen and carried.”
The story takes place in a small, Indigenous village. It begins at the time directly before the young man and woman become married. Readers will observe the details of building their hardscrabble lives, building their house and family.
Dust is everywhere and the author has a preoccupation with it. He’s also fond of repeating his own words. Entire passages are seemingly copied and pasted multiple times over throughout the manuscript.
None of the 3 characters is given a name nor is the setting identified. These contribute to an unsettling reading experience that compels continued page turning until the title becomes a realization - COLLATERAL DAMAGE📚
Displaying 1 of 1 review