A Thousand Splendid Suns

What it's about

Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man in Herat, married off at fifteen to Rasheed, a much older shoemaker in Kabul. Nearly twenty years later, as Afghanistan is torn apart by Soviet occupation, civil war and the rise of the Taliban, a young girl named Laila is orphaned and taken into the same household. The two women, rivals at first, form a bond that becomes their only hope of survival.

Why it's worth reading

It's an emotional, unforgettable story of friendship and endurance, with two heroines readers never forget. Many people find it even more powerful than Hosseini's The Kite Runner.

You'll love it if you liked

The Kite Runner, Pachinko or The Color Purple

Good to know

There's severe domestic violence throughout, and it's heartbreaking. It spans about thirty years of Afghan history.