Author: Asne Sierstad Publisher: Dar Al Saqi Number of pages: 463 Translator's name: Halim Nasr Publication date: 2009 Seizing a rare opportunity, the thirty-three-year-old blonde writer follows the lives of different members of the Khan family for three months to paint a series of vibrant and perplexing portraits. Through the burqa imposed by fundamentalist Islamists, she writes about a parched land struck by drought as fundamentalist Islamists retreat and its people find themselves in an identity crisis... But against a backdrop of shell-destroyed buildings reeking of dust, life goes on: people indulge in gossip, lean on each other, eat sweets, and long for a better life. This daily life of the Afghan people is depicted through a daily follow-up of a man deeply convinced of himself, who, over three decades, under successive oppressive regimes, has heroically defied persecution to bring books to the people of Kabul, earning the admiration of the world. His biography became a book in Kabul, earning the admiration of the world, and his biography became an exceptional book among the world's bestsellers. "The Bookseller of Kabul" is an astonishing book in its intimacy and details - it is a revelation of the human predicament in Afghanistan, and a window into the surprising realities of daily life in modern Afghanistan.