An exclusive interview with an elusive Lebanese crime king and thug --- the kind of opportunity that every journalist lives for in the war-torn Middle East. But for Caddie Blair and her colleagues en route to just such an assignment, things are off-balance from the start. Not long into the trip, their Land Rover is ambushed by a band of radical militiamen, and photojournalist Marcus Lancour --- Caddie's colleague, friend, and lover --- is shot and killed in an assignment gone awry.

So begins this engaging account of an impassioned journalist who believes that getting the story --- while remaining detached from the situation and the people involved --- is everything. As Caddie says, if you get too close, you feel too much. And when you feel too much, you're sunk.

But her world soon begins to unravel when these long-held beliefs in objectivity and fairness ultimately lead to great personal loss. What follows is a sometimes unsettling yet always compassionate look at Caddie's tenuous struggle between a desire for revenge and freedom from the guilt she feels for having survived as she learns to incorporate her losses and recast her life.

In her latest novel, Masha Hamilton, a seasoned journalist herself, gives readers an insider's perspective about the decisions that war correspondents sometimes face and the impact these decisions have on their lives. The Distance Between Us allows readers to reconsider their own judgments and views about reporting, knowing that objectivity and detachment often come at a substantial cost.