A Thousand Splendid Suns

The room that was to be Mariam's was much smaller than the room she'd stayed in at Jalil's house. It had a bed, an old, gray bro ...

he first few days, Mariam hardly left her room. She was awakened every dawn for prayer by the distant cry of azan, after whi ...

He told her about his day. A pair of loafers he had custom made for the deputy foreign minister who, Rasheed said, bought shoes ...

of potatoes, left them too to soak. She searched for flour, found it in the back of one of the cabinets behind a row of dirty sp ...

"The one from Herat. You're so young! Mariam jan, isn't it? My name is Fariba. I live on your street, five houses to your left, ...

around and ran back in the other direction, head down, tripping once and scraping her knee badly, then up again and running, bol ...

compliment The day's earlier unpleasantness receded a bit. "Tomorrow is Friday," Rasheed said. "What do you say I show you aroun ...

ariam had never before worn a burqa. Rasheed had to help her put it on. The padded headpiece felt tight and heavy on her sku ...

"I don't see any chickens," Mariam said. "That's the one thing you can't find on Chicken Street." Rasheed laughed The street was ...

buildings, behind desks of their own, where they typed and smoked and made important telephone calls to important people. These ...

Rasheed buried his face into her pillow, and Mariam stared, wide eyed, at the ceiling above his shoulder, shivering, lips pursed ...

amadan came in the fall that year, 1974. For the first time in her life, Mariam saw how the sighting of the new crescent moo ...

Fariba must have recognized her, walking in burqa beside Rasheed. She waved, and called out, "Eidmubarak!" From inside the burqa ...

She took in the heavy, green drapes, the pairs of polished shoes lined up neatly along the wall, the closet door, where the gray ...

Rasheed's magazine or what Jalil had done? And what entitled her anyway, a villager, aharami, to pass judgment? Mariam tried the ...

n the bus ride home from the doctor, the strangest thing was happening to Mariam. Everywhere she looked, she saw bright colo ...

Rasheed lifted a long, narrow board. As he began to saw it in half, he said the stairs worried him. "Something will have to be d ...

the East and the West, therefore wherever you turn there is Allah's purpose ... She laid down her prayer rug and did namaz. When ...

Mariam lay on the couch, hands tucked between her knees, watched the whirlpool of snow twisting and spinning outside the window. ...

he grief kept surprising Mariam. All it took to unleash it was her thinking of the unfinished crib in the toolshed or the su ...