Thousand Splendid Suns

THE RICHARD & JUDY NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER 'A suspenseful epic' Daily Telegraph 'A triumph' Financial Times 'Heartbreaking' Mail on Sunday 'Deeply moving' Sunday Times Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism.

Review: In case you're wondering whether A Thousand Splendid Suns is as good as The Kite Runner, here's the answer: No. It's better * Washington Post *

A masterful narrative ... He is a storyteller of dizzying power * Evening Standard *

Hosseini has that rare thing, a Dickensian knack for storytelling * Daily Telegraph *

A gripping tale ... It is, too a powerful portrait of female suffering and endurance under the Taliban * Daily Mail *

A beautifully crafted and disturbing story ... As unforgettable as The Kite Runner, this novel places us in Afghanistan with an open heart

A heartfelt saga that encompasses romance and melodrama, personal and political intrigue, the onslaught of war and dispossession * Independent *

If he cut his teeth by writing about his countrymen, it is the plight of Afghanistan's women that has brought him to realise his full powers as a novelist * The Times *

A Thousand Splendid Suns has all the particularity of a novel and all the force of a fable ... It reads, in many ways, like an old-fashioned romance adventure * Mail on Sunday *

Hosseini has done it again ... A Thousand Splendid Suns is a triumph. In Khaled Hosseini, Afghanistan has at last found a voice * Financial Times *