Hosseini takes us into the private world of three generations living through the tumultuous events of the past three decades in Afghanistan from the Soviet occupation through to the ousting of the Taliban. The story is about ordinary people trying to get on with their lives as the world as they know it falls apart around them. The characters are vibrant and complex and Hosseini's prose brings their struggles, their fears and their hopes to life in a very tangible way. Sometimes a fictional interpretation of history is exactly what we need in order to be able to come to a real understanding of what it meant to live through historic events, particularly horrific ones. Hosseini shepherds us to this kind of understanding. We live through the horrors, the struggles and the hellishly difficult decisions as the characters face them.

The real beauty of the novel is in its resolution. Hosseini does not succumb to the temptation to give us a simplistic happy ending, which may make us feel good, but which would betray the reality. Nevertheless he manages to convey redemption and optimism. You will finish the book wishing you could step into the pages and meet the characters who have emerged from suffering with such a resilient sense of hope and a solicitude for the needs of others that leaves us awestruck.

By Gordon Eldridge