Running a Kabul coffee shop that is patronized by ex-pats, American Sunny reaches out to a growing circle of new friends including a pregnant rape victim, a journalist with a painful secret, and a den mother who is engaged in a complicated affair.

An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present day. The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy Afghan youth and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of...

"Kabul: Ten years after 9/11. Dismembered by decades of war and jerry-rigged by foreign aid, the city is flooded by journalists, relief workers, and messianic idealists living cheek by jowl in sterile compounds. They throw parties, sell their stories before they happen, trying to save others and redeem themselves. Outsiders addicted to the compulsive thrill of self-invention in a dangerously unstable country, they believe they are at the very frontier...

"There, a few thousand students are learning not just to read and write and add, but to question, criticize, make provocative art. To sing, poke fun at one another, to protest. The Teacher named the school "Marefat" because it means "knowledge" but also all its derivatives: "wisdom;" "education;" "intellect;" "awareness." Under the protection of foreign forces, a special place has flourished in Afghanistan. The Marefat School is an award-winning institution...

"Five-year-old Pari accompanies her mother on her library bus rounds for the first time, stopping at a village and a refugee camp so that girls there can exchange books and have a lesson in English. Talking with her mother as they drive, Pari learns that she is lucky that she can attend school the next year. Pari's mother had to learn in secret when it was forbidden to teach girls to read, and the young women the bus visits weekly have no other access...

In a divided country on the verge of war, two childhood friends, Amir and Hassan, are about to be torn apart forever. It's a glorious afternoon in Kabul and the skies are bursting with the exhilarating joy of a kite-fighting tournament. But in the aftermath of the day's victory, one boy's fearful act of betrayal will mark their lives forever and set in motion an epic quest for redemption. Now, after twenty years of living in America, Amir returns...