Nadeem Aslam

"A brave, timely, searingly beautiful novel from the acclaimed author of The Blind Man's Garden: set in contemporary Pakistan, the story of a Muslim widow and her Christian neighbors whose community is consumed by violent religious intolerance When shots ring out on the Grand Trunk Road, Nargis's life begins to crumble around her. Her husband, Massud--a fellow architect--is caught in the cross fire and dies before she can confess her greatest secret...

Secretly entering Afghanistan to help care for wounded civilians, Jeo and Makal, foster brothers from a small Pakistani town, find that their good intentions cannot keep them out of harm's way.