A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns spans 30 years of life in Afghanistan, from the Soviet invasion to Taliban rule to the post-Taliban recovery period. The novel follows two very different women, Laila and Mariam, who are brought together unwillingly as wives to the same man. As they struggle to survive daily life with a cruel husband, they eventually form a bond that cannot be severed by even the most tragic of circumstances.
Quote:
“And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion. And whenever those twin poisonous flowers began to sprout in the parched land of that field, Mariam uprooted them. She uprooted them and ditched them before they took hold.”
Author:
Khaled Hosseini is the author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed. Born in Kabul, his family sought political asylum in the United States in the 1980s. He now lives in northern California.
Published: 2007
Length: 372 pages
Set in: Kabul, Afghanistan