“A valuable addition to the canon of literature on the country . . . Seierstad writes compellingly, with an eye for the details and dialogue that make her subjects come to life. She manages to achieve a rare intimacy, something that is tough in a book about Afghanistan, a place where outsiders are seldom allowed inside homes and most men don't speak the names of their wives publicly.”

New York Times Book Review

Ambitious . . . absorbing . . . Burrowing into both Afghan family life and the country's convoluted politics, the book follows three people over several decades, culminating in the dramatic first year of the Taliban restoration . . . Seierstad's short, punchy sentences, ably translated by Seán Kinsella, draw readers into the narrative.

The Boston Globe

A moving history . . . Indelible portraits of people struggling to survive in a war-torn land.

Kirkus Reviews, starred review, "Best Books of the Year"

Deeply researched and empathetically reported, this volume is a monumental modern history of a country about which most Westerners know little.

Ms., "Best Books of the Year"

Deeply researched and empathetically reported, this volume is a monumental modern history of a country about which most Westerners know little.

Ms. Magazine

A gripping, richly textured account of Afghanistan's ordeal that humanizes all sides.

Publishers Weekly