Sparks Like Stars: A Novel

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Suspenseful...emotionally compelling. I found myself eagerly following in a way I hadnt remembered for a long time, impatient for the next twist and turn of the story."NPR

An Afghan American woman returns to Kabul to learn the truth about her family and the tragedy that destroyed their lives in this brilliant and compelling novel from the bestselling author of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, The House Without Windows, and When the Moon Is Low.

Kabul, 1978: The daughter of a prominent family,Sitara Zamanilives a privileged life in Afghanistans thriving cosmopolitan capital. The 1970s are a time of remarkable promise under the leadership of people like Sardar Daoud, Afghanistans progressive president, and Sitaras beloved father, his right-hand man. But the ten-year-old Sitaras world is shattered when communists stage a coup, assassinating the president and Sitaras entire family. Only she survives.

Smuggled out of the palace by a guard named Shair, Sitara finds her way to the home of a female American diplomat, who adopts her and raises her in America. In her new country, Sitara takes on a new nameAryana Shepherdand throws herself into her studies, eventually becoming a renowned surgeon. A survivor, Aryana has refused to look back, choosing instead to bury the trauma and devastating loss she endured.

New York, 2008: Thirty years after that fatal night in Kabul, Aryanas world is rocked again when an elderly patient appears in her examination rooma man she never expected to see again. It is Shair, the soldier who saved her, yet may have murdered her entire family. Seeing him awakens Aryanas fury and desire for answersand, perhaps, revenge. Realizing that she cannot go on without finding the truth, Aryana embarks on a quest that takes her back to Kabula battleground between the corrupt government and the fundamentalist Talibanand through shadowy memories of the world she loved and lost.

Bold, illuminating, heartbreaking, yet hopeful, Sparks Like Stars is a story of homeof America and Afghanistan, tragedy and survival, reinvention and remembrance, told in Nadia Hashimis singular voice.

Reviews

Hashimis narrative is telenovela-gooddaring adventurers, deadly secrets, family drama, the beloved dead, a politician-in-the-making, true love, and more. Booklist (starred review) The question of whether Sitara can go home again is the existential and physical journey Hashimi conjures, in a story at once surreal and deeply rooted in the history of Afghanistans modern turmoil and ancient enchantment. NPR A fascinating epic tale. New York Post Thrilling and moving Booklist The novel is an elegiac tribute to family and civilizationfragile collective entities that should be cherished while they still hold. BookPage

Author Bio

Nadia Hashimi was born and raised in New York and New Jersey. Both her parents were born in Afghanistan and left in the early 1970s, before the Soviet invasion. Nadia is the author of three books for adults, as well as the middle grade novel One Half from the East. She is a pediatrician and lives with her family in the Washington, DC suburbs. Visit her online at www.nadiahashimi.com.