| The
Bookseller of Kabul By Åsne Seierstad For more than twenty years Sultan Khan defied the authorities to supply books to the people of Kabul. He was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned under both the communist and Taliban regimes, and watched illiterate soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. In spring 2002 award-winning journalist Åsne Seierstad spent four months living with the bookseller and his mother, siblings, wives, children and nephews in a small four-roomed house. She accompanied family members to work, school, shops, weddings and more. As a Western she was allowed access to the worlds of both men and women and offers a vivid portrayal of the lives of Afghani living under fundamentalist Islam. While
Sultan is passionate about books and hates censorship, he is also
a committed Muslim with strict views on family life and the role
of women. At home, he behaves like a tyrant with the women in his
family, with the exception of his mother, treated as virtual slaves.
Even after the Taliban’s collapse, Afghani women must submit
to arranged marriages, polygamous husbands, and crippling limitations
on their ability to travel, learn and communicate with others. ‘An intimate portrait of Afghani people quite unlike any other book available on the country. It is a compelling read.’ Sunday Times ‘An international bestseller, it will likely stand as one of the best books of reportage of Afghan life after the fall of the Taliban’ Publishers Weekly 'Written
sometimes more like fiction than fact . . . this is a remarkable
portrait' ‘Seierstad’s great strength lies in bringing all the characters to life with wonderful dialogue … a delightful book’. Literary Review ‘The
Bookseller of Kabul reads like a novel and is absorbing reportage’ Åsne Seierstad was born in Norway. She is an award-winning journalist who has reported from such war-torn regions as Chechnya, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bookseller of Kabul has been translated into fourteen languages. |