In the years immediately following World War II, a young American woman, married and living in Afghanistan against her parents' wishes, suddenly and mysteriously disappears. Michener's magnificent novel combines historical fact with a gripping adventure of romance, danger, and intrigue as it follows the story of the military man who is assigned the task of finding and returning the young woman to her distraught family. Caravans captures the tension of the postwar period, the sweep of Afghanistan's remarkable history, the allure of the past, and the inescapable pull of the future.--From publisher description.