When Sitara is 10 years old her life is flipped upside down. She goes from being the beloved only daughter of a high-ranking Afghan advisor to the country’s president to an orphan on the run. It’s 1982 and Communist backed forces stage a military coup in Nadia Hashimi’s new novel, Sparks Like Stars. Sitara’s family is killed in front of her, but she manages to hide from the ... Read More...
A House Without Windows
Author Nadia Hashimi’s family is from Afghanistan and her time spent listening to their stories and travelling in Afghanistan herself gives her novels the weight of truth. Her last novel, The Pearl that Broke its Shell, was a blend of the modern day with the story of the fabled women who guard an ancient shah’s harem. In A House Without Windows she stays firmly in ... Read More...
The Pearl that Broke its Shell
Nadia Hashimi merges the past with the present in the story of two women from one family. Rahima has the grave misfortune to be yet another daughter born into her family. In Afghanistan the lack of sons is a social and economic disaster. Her father is addicted to opium and does little or no work. Without a son to go out in the world and shop and work for the family their ... Read More...



