num_pages: 195
description: Since the ascendancy of the Taliban the lives of Mosheen and his beautiful wife, Zunaira, have been gradually destroyed. Mosheen's dream of becoming a diplomat has been shattered and Zunaira can no longer even appear on the streets of Kabul unveiled. Atiq is a jailer who guards those who have been condemned to death; the darkness of prison and the wretchedness of his job have seeped into his soul. Atiq's wife, Musarrat, is suffering from an illness no doctor can cure. Yet, the lives of these four people are about to become inexplicably intertwined, through death and imprisonment to passion and extraordinary self-sacrifice.The Swallows of Kabul is an astounding and elegiac novel of four people struggling to hold on to their humanity in a place where pleasure is a deadly sin and death has become routine.
language: English
title: Swallows of Kabul
titlecomplete: Swallows of Kabul
characters: Zunaira, Musarrat, Musin, Atiq
genres: France, Historical, Asia, Novels, War, Historical Fiction, Algeria, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Fiction
ratings_count: 9944
places: Kabul
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Prix des Libraires algériens, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Dublin Literary Award
publisher: Vintage Books