Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day.

Sunny is an expat in Kabul who blissfully runs a coffee shop for other Americans in the country. When Yazmina, a pregnant young woman from a nearby village, is kidnapped and later abandoned near the coffee shop, Sunny instinctively comes to her aid. Candace, a wealthy American, also pitches in, while Isabel, a journalist, chronicles Yazmina's woe. Meanwhile, Halajan, a local mother, is reeling from a forbidden love affair.

An Afghan American woman returns to Kabul to learn the truth about her family and the tragedy that destroyed their lives in this brilliant and compelling novel from the bestselling author of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, The House Without Windows, and When the Moon Is Low. Kabul, 1978: The daughter of a prominent family, Sitara Zalmani lives a privileged life in Afghanistan's thriving cosmopolitan capital. The 1970s are a time of remarkable promise...