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 Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns 2007 'A beautifully crafted and disturbing story of two women victims of the wrath of men. As unforgettable as The Kite Runner, this novel places us in Afghanistan with an open heart' Isabel Allende 'I loved this book - I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting. It is incredibly moving and a real insight into the madness and suffering of Afghanistan - in particular its women' Fiona Bruce 'Hosseini proves his credentials as a superstar storyteller. This follow up to The Kite Runner will have fans rampaging into bookshops desperate for their copy. Yet again he weaves a masterful story around the lives of two extraordinary and compelling characters brought together in adversity' Mariella Frostrup 'At long last, Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns in which the universally adored author of The Kite Runner returns with a study of love and self-sacrifice in a modern Afghan family'

The Kite Runner 2005 The Kite Runner of Khaled Hosseini's deeply moving fiction debut is an illiterate Afghan boy with an uncanny instinct for predicting exactly where a downed kite will land. Growing up in the city of Kabul in the early 1970s, Hassan was narrator Amir's closest friend even though the loyal 11-year-old with "a face like a Chinese doll" was the son of Amir's father's servant and a member of Afghanistan's despised Hazara minority. But in 1975, on the day of Kabul's annual kite-fighting tournament, something unspeakable happened between the two boys. Narrated by Amir, a 40-year-old novelist living in California, The Kite Runner tells the gripping story of a boyhood friendship destroyed by jealousy, fear, and the kind of ruthless evil that transcends mere politics. Running parallel to this personal narrative of loss and redemption is the story of modern Afghanistan and of Amir's equally guilt-ridden relationship with the war-torn city of his birth. The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner begins in the final days of King Zahir Shah's 40-year reign and traces the country's fall from a secluded oasis to a tank-strewn battlefield controlled by the Russians and then the trigger-happy Taliban. When Amir returns to Kabul to rescue Hassan's orphaned child, the personal and the political get tangled together in a plot that is as suspenseful as it is taut with feeling.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Audio-CD 2008 The author carefully dissects many aspects of modern life; in particular, journalistic ethics and society's treatment of women. The novel contains corporate skulduggery, family feuds and violent murder and in parts is very involving. 'TGWTDT', won't appeal to everyone. In addition to the drawn out beginning, Larsson's outlook on human nature is pessimistically bleak and there are some violent scenes that make for uncomfortable reading. If you can see beyond these and are prepared to read past the sluggish opening, you will find yourself enjoying a significant addition to the crime fiction genre.