A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My nephew, who is a sophomore in high school, had to read this book over the summer and he said that it made him cry! I had to read this book!  And what a book!  I had read The Kite Runner so I was familiar with Hosseini's style and the often brutal depiction of events in Afghanistan.  But I was still unprepared for the impact of reading about two very different Afghan women whose lives become intertwined after the Soviets leave Afghanistan.  Miriam is an older woman, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, married at age 15 to Rasheed, an older man.  Laila is the daughter of a university professor.  Laila's future looks promising until the Taliban take over the country. How these two women become first antagonists, then sisters, is an unforgettable story.  372 p.