Bête Brune (Brown Beast)

Bête Brune (Brown Beast) is the story of American diplomats in war-torn Middle East and the South Pacific as they struggle to preserve and protect American interests, including the lives of American expatriates and themselves while threatened by terrorists and hostile militaries.

Spanning continents and oceans, the novel Bête Brune (Brown Beast) by author Kim Hester tells the story of a female American diplomat who lives in a war-torn Middle Eastern country with a populace that hates Americans and despises women. As she confronts one ugly obstacle after another, she manages to build strength of character and courage to face the hostilities that surround her, all the while maintaining her sense of femininity and her love for her husband. She comes to excel as a diplomat and in enduring the unendurable and the many dangers of war and terrorism. This novel examines people who are seldom understood who populate the mysterious kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as the Fiji Islands, Paris, Washington, D.C., California, and Diego Garcia.

Author Kim Hester has explored Middle Eastern deserts and South Pacific jungles, and the cultures they contain. From this experience, he crafts fiction that is riveting and profound, leaving the reader a better person with greater understanding of the world. He is an ex-Marine who once served as editor with the California Department of Education and teaching fellow at Stanford University. He holds a certificate in fiction writing from Gotham Writers' Workshop and a certificate in novel writing from Stanford University. He has taught at universities in the United States, Fiji, and Saudi Arabia and holds a BA and an MA in English, in addition to an MA in education. He is a member of American Mensa and lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife Manjula who is from the Fiji Islands. His hobbies include cycling, hiking, camping, and gardening.