This book would be a good read for those who seek a firsthand account of life in Afghanistan. Through the eyes of Sultan Khan, a bookseller in Kabul, readers are taken on a journey that explores the resilience of the human spirit in the face of political turmoil and censorship. As Åsne Seierstad immerses herself in an Afghan family, the book paints a vivid picture of the struggles, marriages, power dynamics, and the profound impact of history on a nation. Highly recommended for those fascinated by stories of survival and personal resilience.

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• Bokhandlerprisen (2002)

In spring 2002, following the fall of the Taliban, Asne Seierstad spent four months living with a bookseller and his family in Kabul. For more than twenty years, Sultan Khan defied the authorities - be they communist or Taliban - to supply books to the people of Kabul. He was arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned by the communists, and watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. He even resorted to hiding most of his stock - almost ten thousand books - in attics all over Kabul. But while Khan is passionate in his love of books and his hatred of censorship, he also has strict views on family life and the role of women. As an outsider, Asne Seierstad found herself in a unique position, able to move freely between the private, restricted sphere of the women - including Khan's two wives - and the freer, more public lives of the men. It is an experience that Seierstad finds both fascinating and frustrating. As she steps back from the page and allows the Khans to speak for themselves, we learn of proposals and marriages, hope and fear, crime and punishment. The result is a genuinely gripping and moving portrait of a family, and a clear-eyed assessment of a country struggling to free itself from history.

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