Synopsis

Modern events sometime demand the reissue of a book published several years ago. Hirsh's internationally acclaimed 1986 novel, Kabul, provides an almost miraculous window into a country and its people that now have captured the world's attention.

When the last Afghan king is deposed in the summer of 1973, the family of Omar Anwari, his loyal cabinet minister, is torn apart along with their country. Over seven turbulent years while Catherine, their American mother, struggles to hold them together, Mangal, the eldest son, breaks with his father to follow his own political conscience; daughter Saira in New York is torn between two cultures; and Tor, the youngest, most passionate of the three grows up to become perhaps the bravest of them all.

An epic tale of civil war, political intrigue, and family tragedy, Kabul is a moving, insightful portrayal of a proud nation brought to chaos.

Publishers Weekly

At Mangal Anwari's lavish wedding, his bride wears a heavily embroidered dress and a thin veil that barely conceals the scars she earned as an outspoken dissident during the turbulence of the early 1970s in Afghanistan. One night later, her new husband joins in a plan to depose the king, gaining a questionable position of power in the new military government. At Mangal's insistence, his younger sister Saira departs for New York just hours before the coup, while their petulant young brother Tor is sent to Moscow University, where he buries his resentment by helping to expand an already black market. Five years later, after Mangal is lost during another uprising and the threat of Soviet domination begins to loom large over Afghanistan, Tor returns to Kabul's treacherous streets to rescue his parents and make contact with the rebel camp, while Saira foolishly shares secrets with her Russian lover, shattering the lives of her family by helping the Soviets strike at the heart of the resistance. First novelist Hirsh has turned in a gratifying and vibrant description of a family and a country torn by political strife. January 30

Biography

M. E. Hirsh has written for the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times on subjects ranging from Afghanistan to Native American affairs. She is the author of Dreaming Back, a novel, and is currently at work on two others.