
An Afghan American woman returns to Kabul to learn the truth about her family and the tragedy that destroyed their lives in this brilliant and compelling novel from the bestselling author of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, The House Without Windows, and When the Moon Is Low.
Kabul, 1978: The daughter of a prominent family,Β Sitara ZamaniΒ lives a privileged life in Afghanistanβs thriving cosmopolitan capital. The 1970s are a time of remarkable promise under the leadership of people like Sardar Daoud, Afghanistanβs progressive president, and Sitaraβs beloved father, his right-hand man. But the ten-year-old Sitaraβs world is shattered when communists stage a coup, assassinating the president and Sitaraβs entire family. Only she survives.Β
Smuggled out of the palace by a guard named Shair, Sitara finds her way to the home of a female American diplomat, who adopts her and raises her in America. In her new country, Sitara takes on a new nameβAryana Shepherdβand throws herself into her studies, eventually becoming a renowned surgeon. A survivor, Aryana has refused to look back, choosing instead to bury the trauma and devastating loss she endured.Β
New York, 2008: Forty years after that fatal night in Kabul, Aryanaβs world is rocked again when an elderly patient appears in her examination roomβa man she never expected to see again. It is Shair, the soldier who saved her, yet may have murdered her entire family. Seeing him awakens Aryanaβs fury and desire for answersβand, perhaps, revenge. Realizing that she cannot go on without finding the truth, Aryana embarks on a quest that takes her back to Kabulβa battleground between the corrupt government and the fundamentalist Talibanβand through shadowy memories of the world she loved and lost.Β
Bold, illuminating, heartbreaking, yet hopeful, Sparks Like Stars is a story of homeβof America and Afghanistan, tragedy and survival, reinvention and remembrance, told in Nadia Hashimiβs singular voice.
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