Thousand splendid suns (Bloomsbury Publishing)

THE RICHARD & JUDY NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER 'A suspenseful epic' - Daily Telegraph 'A triumph' Financial Times 'Heartbreaking' - Mail on Sunday 'Deeply moving' - Sunday Times Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed.

Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear.

Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism.