The Bookseller of Kabul

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Format:	Paperback 288 pages

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Synopsis

Two weeks after September 11th, award-winning journalist Asne Seierstad went to Afghanistan to report on the conflict there. In the following spring she returned to live with an Afghan family for several months. 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 in attics all over Kabul. But while Khan is passionate in his love of books and hatred of censorship, he is also a committed Muslim with strict views on family life. As an outsider, Seierstad is able to move between the private world of the women - including Khan's two wives - and the more public lives of the men. And so we learn of proposals and marriages, suppression and abuse of power, crime and punishment. The result is a gripping and moving portrait of a family, and a clear-eyed assessment of a country struggling to free itself from history.

Book details

Published
04/03/2004

Publisher
Virago Press Ltd

ISBN
9781844080472

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'A remarkable portrait, with deftly woven accounts of weddings and journeys, books and bookselling, relations and squabbles, firmly anchored by pleasing details about food and customs, all set against the backdrop of a derelict city, filthy and crammed bu

UK Kirkus review

Asne Seierstad's work as a war correspondent brought her to Afghanistan in 2001. Intrigued, she returned after the Taliban's fall, and spent four months living with the Khans. Noting how the family must have seen her as some 'bi-gendered' creature, she wastes no time introducing us to the central character, Sultan Khan, the bookseller of the title. Sultan's love for his ancient country's culture gives him strength to stand up to Communist and Taliban alike. As they burn and destroy his beloved books he consoles himself with the knowledge that he has hidden away many more. He's also a man who puts himself first, and seems to always get what he wants, be it a priceless Persian text or a new wife. Through the family's experiences, Seierstad's no-nonsense style provides a close up look at a fascinating country and its people, still daring to hope after the horrific ravages of the recent past. (Kirkus UK)

About the author

Åsne Seierstad

Asne Seierstad (born 1970) has reported from Russia, China, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, amongst many other countries. She has received numerous awards for her journalism.