Product Description

Ten years ago, Christina Lamb reported on the war the Afghan people were fighting against the Soviet Union. Now, back in Afghanistan, she has written an extraordinary memoir of her love affair with the country and its people

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20308 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-24
• Binding: Paperback
• 338 pages

Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times
'..a personal, perceptive and moving account of bravery in the face of staggering difficulties.'

Matthew Leeming, Spectator
'Brilliant.'

Synopsis
A gold-inscribed invitation to a wedding in Pakistan led Christina Lamb to leave suburban England for Peshawar - a town perched on the frontier of the Afghan war - at the age of just 21. Captivated by the Afghans she met, for two years she tracked the final stages of the mujaheddin victory over the Soviets as Afghan friends smuggled her in and out of their country in a variety of guises - from burqa-clad wife to Kandahari boy - travelling by foot, on donkeys, or hidden under the floor of an ambulance. Long haunted by her experiences in Afghanistan, Lamb returned there after the 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre to find out what had become of the people and places that had marked her life as a young graduate. This time seeing the land through the eyes of a mother and experienced foreign correspondent, Lamb's journey brings her in touch with the people no one else is writing about: the abandoned victims of almost a quarter century of war.

Among them are the brave women writers of Herat who carried on the literary tradition of this ancient Persian city under the guise of sewing circles; those persecuted by the Taliban such as Kabul's leading kite-maker, imprisoned for making the colourful paper kites that fly from the rooftops of the city; and Khalil Ahmed Hassani, a former Taliban torturer who admits to breaking the spines of men, then making them stand on their heads. This text is a poignant memoir of her love affair with the country and its people.

Customer Reviews

THIS BOOK WOULD BE SO EASY TO MISS!
Why did Ms Lamb's editor allow her to choose this title! I suppose I feel a bit of a cheat because I only paid 50p for it from a local library sale, and then on a second visit, having bypassed this book the first time around because of its title. What on earth would I, a bloke, want to be reading a book about sewing circles in Herat written by someone called Christina Lamb? Well, at 50p a shot, why not? It was one of those "most important decisions I ever made" moments because it's the best book I have EVER read about this war-ravaged country and its people. Probably one of the most important books ever WRITTEN about the place. It should be compulsory reading for everyone sent to serve there in the military, and every leader of every country with a military presence there (and those who refuse to send troops) should be made to read it from cover to cover, because "about sewing circles in Herat" it ain't about. Now how on earth do we get this message out?

Much more than sewing circles
Lamb's title is misleading. The sewing circles which hid clandestine education for women forbidden by the Taliban, are but a minor part of the author's travels in Afghanistan in two main periods, the war against the Russians and just after the defeat of the Taliban. This is a terrible account of what war does to destroy a land and of the inhumanity of life under the strict Islam of the Taliban. Who can imagine what it must have been like to live under a regime where all picture, music and even laughter were banned. So what is related here is often ugly,violent and cruel. Lamb writes well but one cannot help wondering what was the mother of a young child thinking of to put her life at risk as she did. This is not a pleasant read but there is something of happiness before the end and now life in Kabul is, I can say from personal experience, much better than when Lamb wrote. Afghanistan though sadly remains a land of violence still in danger from oppressive Islamists

So much more than an entertaining tale
The Sewing Circles of Herat helps to bring today's Afghanistan into a clearer perspective. Christina Lamb lets the reader better see the faces and hearts of many who have been, to most westerners, simply names mentioned when Afghanistan was bigger TV pull. Lamb brings to light, through sharing her own experience, the personal and political struggle of the people of Afghanistan. Through her, the reader is able to get closer to the individual stories of strength and sorrow. She introduces warlords and foot soldiers, and through her they become real people. It is too easy to sit back and watch the newscasts, to turn them off and forget. In knowing more about the people involved, it is harder to forget.

Lamb does not tell an entertaining tale. She reports her own fascinating experience, and she reports it well. She gives the reader the details. She shares her deep love for a people, culture and county, and through her writing she allows the reader to share some of the sadness and joy with her. Above all the reader learns, of history, heroism, bravery, and caring. Lamb helps the reader see the landscape of Afghanistan in years past and now. And the reader, through Lamb, mourns the loss of what was Afghanistan, and hopes for what its people might have in the future.