Item: City of Widows
Rating: 3.5
Author: Catherine

City of Widows by Nadia Hashimi
Published by William Morrow & Company
Publication date: July 28, 2026
Genres: Book Clubs, Fiction, Cultural, Historical

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Nadia Hashimi’s novel, City of Widows is set in Kabul in 2021 as America is in the final stages of withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan. Despite all the promises made by the Taliban to honor the changes made in the country they are already targeting women for harassment and are arresting and/or killing anyone who aided the Afghan government against them. For two strangers, Marjan and Mina, the danger is greater than for most. City of Widows follows both with a compacted timeline heightening the danger and urgency of their situations.

Marjan was in a special forces troop of female soldiers used when compounds and villages believed to be hiding terrorists were raided. Being Afghan, but a woman, meant the apprehended women were more likely to talk to her than to the Americans. Mina is a public figure, a journalist with her own television show who is very outspoken about women’s rights and issues. Both have American connections that are supposed to help them get out of the country during the evacuation, but as the Taliban’s violence accelerates and communications break down, they find all their avenues to safety closing. In desperation, Marjan and her daughter head to an encampment on Kabul’s outskirts that houses a community of widows and their families, women and children only. From there, they continue trying to get to the airport in trips that become more harrowing as the days pass and the window for escape closes.

There are numerous elements working to make City of Widows high tension reading: the terror of being hunted in a battle zone, having to abandon your entire life in an effort to survive, not to mention having a daughter of an age to be an easy target for men to whom no rules apply. But for all that, I was still able to set this book aside for days. I can’t explain why so have to chalk it up to a “it’s me not you” situation. I’m still a fan of Hashimi for her insightful portrayals of the women of Afghanistan, but this is not my favorite of her books. For that, I’d recommend The Pearl the Broke its Shell, Hashimi’s 2007 debut and the heartrending story of Marjan’s childhood amidst the realities of being female in a fundamentalist society.

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