And the Mountains Echoed

So, then. You want a story and I will tell you one…

Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and stepmother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters. To Abdullah, Pari – as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named – is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their heads touching, their limbs tangled.

One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.

Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways in which we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us.

“A story of love, separation, friendship, compassion, exile, memory and the troubled history of Afghanistan, spanning three continents and 60 years… Hosseini is a master storyteller and his characters brim with life… This novel will not disappoint his many admirers”  Paul Dunn, The Times

“A touching story of love across time and continents”  Sunday Express

“This is a shamelessly enjoyable book”  Philip Hensher, Guardian

“And the Mountains Echoed opens like a thunderclap…From this dramatic opening spins a constellation of star-crossed characters…Love, Hosseini seems to say, is the great leveller, cutting through language, class, and identity. No one in this gripping novel is immune to its impact”  O – The Oprah Magazine 

“This universality and humanity may well be why millions of readers devour Hosseini’s books. I read And the Mountains Echoed in a single sitting – it is an absorbing read from a master storyteller” Financial Times