By: Khaled Hosseini

Plot
The second novel written by Hosseini, the story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny seen from the perspectives of two women. Mariam is a illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman and his former servant. After deceiving her mothers wishes, her mother committed suicide. And was forced at age fifteen into marrying Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal and violent when she fails to produce a child. Eighteen years later, Rasheed takes another wife, fourteen year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation. As the novel progresses, Mariam and Laila become allies in a battle with Rasheed, whose violent abuse is endorsed by custom and law. The author gives a forceful portrait of despotism where women are dependent on fathers, husbands and especially sons, the bearing of male children being their only path to an accepted social status. Each woman in the end is forced to accept a path that will never be completely happy for them: Mariam will have to sacrifice her life to save Laila after she murders their husband while Laila, even though marrying her childhood love, must find a way to keep the sacrifice Mariam has made from not becoming an act done in vain.

Khaled Hosseini

Quick Biography
Born on March 4, 1965 in Kabul, Afghanistan. In 1970, he and his family moved to Iran because his father was assigned to the Afghan embassy. They returned to Kabul the same year the Afghanistan king died, three years later. In 1976, they moved to Paris, and stayed there, because the communist took over Afghanistans government. They finally moved to America in 1980 and have been living there since then.

Education
Hosseini earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Santa Clara University in 1988. Then he went to medical school in San Diego at the university of California. He began residency in internal medicine at Cedar-Sinia Medical Center in L.A. , then began practicing physician between 1996 and 2004.

Influences at a Young Age

Hosseini as a child would love his grandmother's stories in Kabul. Once in a while him and his childhood friends and siblings would listen to the stories of their grandmothers childhood life. Another big influence would be the radio. There would continuous stories the radio would tell every week, and he would always listened to those. Also, when his family moved to Iran temporarily, they had a Hazara servant, who didnt know how to read or write, so he took the opportunity of teaching him in Faris. In an interview, Hosseini says how teaching the men gave him an insights to write his first novel.

Awards and

The Khaled Hosseini Foundation

The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. The Foundation supports projects which provide shelter to refugee families and economic and education opportunities and healthcare for women and children. In addition, the Foundation awards scholarships to women pursuing higher education in Afghanistan. The concept for The Khaled Hosseini Foundation was inspired by a trip to Afghanistan Khaled made in 2007 with the UNHCR.

Afghanistan

Location
It is located in the borders of Pakistan, China, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. By the end of the 18th century, Kabul has been known as the capital city. Well known cities in Afghanistan would be Herat, and Kandahar, because of their size in population.

Lifestyle

Some Afghans live a traditional life, but most are settled farmers Traditional clothing including baggy cotton trousers, is common for both men and women. Afghan men wear long cotton shirts that hang over their trousers with wide sashes around their waist. Some women wear a burka which covers them from head to foot, hiding their face behind a mesh screen. After the fall of the Taliban women continue to wear it in some places as a requirement imposed by local religious men. Women are also slowly returning to work and education, but there have been attacks on women who do. Before the Taliban's fell, only boys were allowed to go to school, but now both go to a traditional school.