A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story
Books / Paperback
Books › Biography & Autobiography › Personal Memoirs
ISBN: 1250043654 / Publisher: Picador, April 2014
This memoir from a carpet designer in Kabul describes his childhood before the Mujahedin took over, being kidnapped, camping in caves and his employing neighborhood girls while teaching them literature and science in his secret shop under Taliban rule. 50,000 first printing.
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Twenty-three years ago—after the Soviets left and before the Taliban came to power—Kabul was a garden where seven-year-old Qais Akbar Omar flew kites from the roof of his grandfather's house. Then came the hollow sounds of rocket fire as the Mujahedin, self-proclaimed holy warriors, took over Afghanistan, and the country erupted in civil war. Omar's family fled, leaving everything behind to take shelter in an old fort. But after a narrow escape from death, his father decided that the family must leave the country.Yet the journey proved more difficult than anticipated, and in this stunning coming-of-age memoir, Omar offers a moving recollection of these events—a story of daily hardships, relieved by moments of joy and immense beauty. Inflected with folktales and steeped in poetry, A Fort of Nine Towers is a life-affirming triumph.
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