A Thousand Splendid Suns

Love is a powerful emotion. Deeply hidden, forbidden, secret, it will always find its rightful place. This is the story of Khaled Hosseini's new novel, which became a major international bestseller in 2007. This book is also about friendship between people who seem destined for nothing but enemies, about the hidden contradictions between parents and children, and about the resilience of gentle hearts. At the center of the novel are two women who found themselves victims of the upheavals that destroyed peaceful Afghanistan. Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, who has known misfortune since childhood and sensed her own doom from an early age. Layla, on the other hand, is the beloved daughter of a close-knit family, dreaming of an interesting and wonderful life. They have nothing in common; they live in different worlds that would never have intersected if not for the fiery storm of war. From now on, Leila and Mariam are bound by the closest ties, and they themselves don't know who they are—enemies, friends, or sisters. But alone, they cannot survive in a world gone mad, nor withstand the medieval despotism and cruelty that have flooded the streets and houses of a once cozy city. Together, they will endure suffering, together they will catch unexpected grains of joy, together they will dream of the happiness they will one day try to achieve. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a powerful, dramatic, and lyrical story that makes hearts clench with pain and joy. This is a noble and magnanimous book. Translated from English by Sergey Sokolov.