Hosseini weaves elements of Afghanistan’s history in throughout the novel, but in such a skillful way that it never detracts from the voices of these two women: ultimately it is their story. Although Mariam and Laila come from different generations, they both encounter similar hardships: Mariam first as the illegitimate child and then as the wife who suffers multiple miscarriages, and Laila as the girl who has a happy upbringing in Kabul but who loses everything, pressured into an unhappy marriage to protect her child. Set against the backdrop of 30 years of modern Afghan history, the story spans from the Soviet occupation to Taliban control and then on to post-Taliban rebuilding. The book is a dual narrative following the stories of two women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become intertwined. It is an insight into a society that we shamefully know so little about, despite Afghanistan being front page news for so much of the 2000s. But this is more than just a gripping story. A Thousand Splendid Suns is one of those books that you will pick up, intending to read just one chapter, and then hours later you’ll hear the birds chirping, see the glimmer of dawn in the sky and realise that you have been up all night, spellbound by the suspense of Hosseini’s prose.
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