Arshud Mahmood's short story collection begins as an enchanted childhood idyll: a privileged boy growing up in a household with servants and a doting mother and father in a remote rural enclave at the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. But it isn't long before the spell of the fairy tale is broken with the intrusion of tribal disputes, innocent mistakes, and terrible reprisals. Coffee with Chicory brings alive an alien but rich and complex culture as only one born into it could. This is a fascinating, much-needed book. Aram Saroyan Author of 'Door to the River'