Kite Runner

 The number one bestseller, chosen as a Book of the Decade by The Times, Daily Telegraph and Guardian 'Devastating' Daily Telegraph 'Heartbreaking' The Times 'Unforgettable' Isabel Allende 'Haunting' Independent Afghanistan, 1975: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

Review: A gripping read and a haunting story of love, loss and betrayal. Guaranteed to move even the hardest heart * Independent *

Shattering ... devastating and inspiring * Observer *

Hosseini is a truly gifted teller of tales ... he's not afraid to pull every string in your heart to make it sing * The Times *

Rings true with tenderness and truth * Daily Mail *

A devastating, masterful and painfully honest story of a life crippled by an act of childhood and cowardice and cruelty ... It speaks the harrowing truth about the power of evil, personal and political, and intoxicates, like a high-flying kite, with the power of hope * Daily Telegraph *

Stunning and heartbreaking in its quiet intensity * Guardian *

This is one of those unforgettable stories that stay with you for years. All the great themes of literature and of life are the fabric of this extraordinary novel: love, honour, guilt, fear, redemption ... It is so powerful that for a long time after, everything I read seemed bland * Isabel Allende *

The novel that made Afghanistan the talking-point of every book group * Guardian, 50 Books that Defined the Decade *