Review by Amanda Hampson

Shortly after 9/11, Asne Seierstad, a Norwegian journalist, spent four months living with the family of a bookseller in Kabul. Her goal was to reveal the Afghan perspective on politics and culture from the microcosm of one family. Considering this book has been translated into 41 languages and become Norway’s best-selling non-fiction book of all time – you’d have to agree she has succeeded.

Simply but beautifully written, Seierstad has managed to deliver complex Afghan political history in palatable bite-sized chunks interwoven with the intimate details of the bookseller’s family life - including his mother, siblings, two wives and children. It probably speaks for itself that the bookseller subsequently sued the author and that various members of his family were forced to emigrate as a result of the personal details revealed in the book.

Seierstad paints an unsympathetic portrait of a patriarchal society where men are tyrants, virgin wives are bought and owned by their husbands and women are punished, sometimes by death, for falling in love – and this is post-Taliban. The tedious, restricted lives of these women forced to don the burqa in public for their own safety, is a revelation. A fascinating must-read.

Amanda Hampson is the author of The Olive Sisters and Two for the Road and also runs fiction and memoir writing workshops:www.thewriteworkshops.com.