The Pearl of Kuwait

He's California surfer Cody "Cowboy" Carmichael, and his life is forever changed when he meets Private Tommy Trang at boot camp. Trang is not your typical American patriot--his mother was a Saigon prostitute, his father a dead U.S. marine, and Trang's heart soon belongs to a sixteen-year-old Kuwaiti princess trapped behind the lines when the Iraqis invade her country. Together, the two marines are ready to wave the American flag all the way to Baghdad, or at least into occupied Kuwait, to rescue Princess Lulu. During the exciting, moving, and often hilarious account of these two AWOL marines sneaking through the Iraqi lines, the mellow Carmichael gets to know the heart of Pvt. Tommy Trang, and discovers a new brand of patriotism that is gripping, contagious, and as deep as life itself.
A powerful first novel by an award-winning writer, The Pearl of Kuwait is Romeo and Juliet meets Lawrence of Arabia. Tom Paine has created an enthralling, joyful, and original story with the classic ingredients of love and war.