A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a fiction novel written by Khaled Hosseini an Afghan American writer and also author of The Kite Runner. The book takes place in Afghanistan and follows the story of Mariam, an illegitimate child of a wealthy businessman. She suffers humiliation because of her birth and abuses through her forced marriage. The book also follows the story of Laila who was born a generation after Mariam. She has a more privileged life compared to Mariam until their paths meet and Laila and is forcefully married to Rasheed, an abusive man who is also Mariam's husband. The book tells the life story of these two women and how their paths intersected and affected each other’s lives. The book captivates the struggle of women in Afghan society which personally leads to one of the saddest novels I have read. Overall this story left me shocked and depressed.

Sameer Khan