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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

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A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Novel

by Khaled Hosseini

Narrator Atossa Leoni

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Length 11 hours 43 minutes

Language English

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“Some stories stay with you long after you’ve finished them. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is one of those books. It’s stunning. It’s heartbreaking. And it’s a story that opens your eyes to a world so different from our own here in New Zealand. Set in Afghanistan, the book spans decades of turmoil and change. At its centre are two women, Mariam and Laila. Their lives are shaped by hardship, but their friendship becomes their strength. Hosseini’s writing captures both the beauty of their bond and the brutality of the world around them. The author paints Afghanistan in vivid detail. He describes an abundant and beautiful landscape, far from the images we often see on the news. The contrast between this natural beauty and the challenges faced by the characters is striking. The pacing is wonderful. Each chapter flows seamlessly, yet you feel the passing of time. Hosseini uses memories and reflections to circle back to the past, connecting everything beautifully. At its core, this book is about female strength. Mariam and Laila endure so much, but their courage shines through. Their resilience is humbling, and their story is a powerful reminder of what women can endure and overcome. Hosseini doesn’t shy away from hard truths. He shares the harsh realities of life for women in Afghanistan. It’s confronting, but it’s also essential. These moments make the women’s courage even more inspiring.”
— Kerryn • Needle & Hook

Summary
About the author
About the narrator

After more than two years on the bestseller lists, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel of enormous contemporary relevance.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love—a stunning accomplishment.

Fiction Historical Fiction

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and moved to the United States in 1980. His first novel, The Kite Runner, was an international bestseller, published in forty countries. In 2006 he was named a U.S. envoy to UNHCR, The United Nations Refugee Agency. He lives in northern California.

Atossa Leoni has been working internationally in film, television and theater since childhood. Of Afghan and Iranian descent, she was born and raised in Europe and has been living in California for the past decade. Atossa played the female lead "Soraya" in Marc Forster's film "The Kite Runner" based on Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel.