Release

Refuge Trilogy #3

by N.G. Osborne

It is December 2001. Eight years on, Charlie remains imprisoned in a Saudi Arabian jail while Noor has made a life for herself and her child in a North Carolina mountain town.

After the recent 9/11 attacks the world is a very different place. Yet Charlie and Noor are faced with the same issue. Will they reunite? And if they do, will they ever be allowed to live in peace? It seems unlikely. After all Charlie is serving a life sentence and the Prince still has men searching for Noor and his child. Yet one thing that can never be extinguished is Charlie and Noor’s love for each other nor Noor’s love for her child. It means they are prepared to take risks that others would flee from.

In Release, the third and final novel in the Refuge Trilogy, N. G. Osborne concludes Noor and Charlie’s epic story. It takes us on a thrilling and emotional journey from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan and all the way across the United States, with one burning question ever present. Will Noor and Charlie finally be released from the forces that are so intent on tearing them apart?

330 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 19, 2015

About the author

I grew up in Angus, Scotland and from there went south to England for my schooling at Winchester College. At eighteen I took a detour to Peshawar, Pakistan where I taught both Pakistani school children and Afghan refugees and then returned a year later and went on to university at Oxford where I studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

After Oxford, I had a burning desire to be in the film industry and so I applied and received a place at the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Two years - that's what I told myself. I will study there for two years, get some interning experience in Hollywood, and then take my skills back to the UK. Oh, how one's plans so easily change.

Now 17 years later I am still in Los Angeles. I've been a film executive and a producer and worked on many wonderful movies. But about 5 years ago three things began to coincide. First, I increasingly wanted to write - I loved producing but it also frustrated me. Isn't the cliche that inside every producer is a frustrated writer? Well that was me. But bizarrely because I wasn't confident in my writing ability I thought I would write a novel not a screenplay. I know, talk about putting the cart before the horse.

If I was going to write a novel then I wanted to write one in a genre I loved - and though it may strange sound for a man to say this, my favorite genre of novel was love stories - not pulp romance novels but the classics - Anna Karenina, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Corelli's Mandolin, Love In The Time of Cholera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Classic romances that have stood the test of time. Now I'm not pretending what I have written is even close but it is the genre I perhaps naively chose.

The question was what and that is when I came back to my time in Pakistan - what if I told a simple story - a love story - set in 1991 between an American aid worker and a young female Afghan refugee. What I loved about the idea was that in all great romances there has to be something standing in the way of your couple getting together - in Romeo and Juliet it's that Capulets and Montagues are sworn enemies, in Corelli's Mandolin it's that Corelli is an invader and Peligia part of the population his troops have conquered. I think one of the issues of writing a great romance nowadays is that there are so few barriers to love - but there are plenty when your characters are a Muslim woman and an American man especially if they live in one of the most fundamentalist parts of the world.

Writing the novel was perversely one of the hardest and most rewarding things I've ever done - it's a bit like aid work actually. And what came out of it were these two great characters - Charlie and Noor - who I fell in love with and by the end of the process felt like the closest of friends. I do so hope you love them too.

Reviews

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while since the second book in this trilogy for this one to come out and I was waiting really patiently. I should have read the second book before starting this one, just to refresh my memory which I unfortunately didn't do. At some point I will read all three books back to back.

It's a quick read, once you started you are sucked back into the world of Noor and Charlie and you keep on turning the pages. You want to know the end, but you don't, because you don't want to finish the last book of the trilogy and kind of loose your 'friends'. I guess that happens often with a series, especially when the books are wonderful reads and the characters are easy to love.

It's an unexpected and nice round up of the trilogy with a satisfactory ending. My favorite part was Charlies's time in jail and his wonderful friendship with Kadhim. Wish we knew what happened to Kadhim afterwards.... and if they'd ever meet again. It was so good to have Wali back in the story, he is so funny and an inspiration. Always so positive and making the best of his life with the cards he has been dealt.

I do not want to give away any spoilers, but do want to share what I didn't like. To me it was a bit strange and not believable that Noor all of a sudden made the decision to take things in her own hands and leave without a specific plan or anything. Throwing herself into danger and leaving her daughter in the hands of a man her daughter didn't even know? Also I couldn't believe that Charlie took this action like 'it's one of those things Noor just has to do'. He went through hell it was incredibly tough for him and he let Noor go? I don't know..... but it didn't sit right with me.


All in all I love this trilogy and warmly recommend it to my friends. I hope Nick will keep on writing, because he is definitely a talented story teller and let's not forget:
"Love once given, unlike almost everything else in life, is something that no one can take away from you, not even when you are in the darkest of circumstances. It is the true elixir of life."

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a trilogy with a satisfying ending! I could not put this book down from the moment I started it. As with the previous books there were so many moments where my heart was in my mouth and I worried so much about how the story would end. But I shouldn't have because Osborne completed it perfectly.

[Tolu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent third installment in the Refuge series!!!

Another beautiful story by N.G Osborne, usually by the third book the storyteller starts struggling and the story and storyline falters. This isn't the case with Release. It was well worth the wait and I couldn't put it down from when I turned the first page. Need I say more?
Awesome job by a fabulous writer.

[Lisa]

Great ending to this trilogy! Enjoyed the series...

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

worst in the series the resolution seemed very unrealistic.

[Marian Sofferin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I waited two years for this final book of this trilogy to be completed. It was well worth the wait as I loved it! The story line came together quite well.

Heads up for those who don't like violence as parts of the book are disturbing. That being said it is pertinent to the story.

I loved this series. Kudos to the author.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have anxiously awaited this third and final installment in the series, and it did not disappoint. My only criticism is that the book is in desperate need of editing. Typos, grammatical errors, and erratic changes of tense made it tough to get through parts. But my affection for the series and, of course, for Noor and Charlie, drove me onward. A very satisfying series.

[Vicki Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of Charlie and Noor captured my interest in the first book, Refuge. N. G. Osborne has managed to write courageous, yet vulnerable characters involved in unimaginable situations that require them to sacrifice all for those that they love.

[Simone O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth the wait. Final installment of the trilogy did not disappoint, heart stoppingingly brilliant, there was a lot of NOOOOOOO'S SHOUTED, I'll miss the characters. Look forward to reading future books from the talented Mr. Osborne. Don't leave it too long buddy

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I was ready for this book. I wasn't. Be warned, it gets harsh, quick, but you still won't be able to put it down even as your mind is reeling in horror. Incredibly well written and such a good ending to Charlie and Noor's story.

[Anitha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great conclusion to a great series. Loved!!!