A Thousand Splendid Suns - by Khaled Hosseini

I was drawn into this story of two girls who become women in Afghanistan. The story begins with Miriam, a girl who grows up with only her mother in a small hut, in the 1960s. Her father is a rich man with several other wives, and her mother was one of his servants. When she got pregnant she was removed from the town. He visits weekly and tells Miriam stories that differ from the stories her Mother tells. He brings gifts and smiles and she soon believes that he is the "good" parent. When he fails to appear one day, as promised, Miriam walks into town to find him. Turned away at his door she returns home to find that her mother has committed suicide.

At 15 she is given as a wife to a man 30 years her senior. He wants children, and when her attempts to provide children fail, he punishes her.

Laila is born in the early 70's to progressive parents, in an era when Afghanistan is open and allows freedom to women. She grows up believing she can do and be anything. But, times change and wars come. Her best friend and the love her life leaves with his family to try to find a safer place. Weeks later, her own parents are killed.

This is where the lives of Miriam and Laila collide in an emotional heart-wrenching story that gives the reader a look into the lives of women in Afghanistan over the course of 4 decades.