Khaled Hosseini, author of the global bestsellers *The Kite Runner* and *A Thousand Splendid Suns*, returns with his third novel. It takes us back to his native Afghanistan, but also to Paris and California.
It tells the story of siblings separated in childhood. Abdullah grows up in the poverty of rural Afghanistan, never ceasing to long for his lost sister. Meanwhile, Pari, who has forgotten she ever had a brother, is raised by a wealthy family in Kabul and Paris. Against the backdrop of almost sixty years of dramatic Afghan history, a story of love, loss, and sacrifice unfolds. Is it better to be torn from one's family than to suffer in poverty? What can or should the wealthy do for the poor? How strong are family bonds, and what are the consequences of our decisions?
Hosseini seeks answers to these questions in this masterfully told story. Will Abdullah and Pari ever meet again? Open the book...
As if to fully explore his favourite theme of family relationships, Hosseini's latest book, *And the Mountains Echoed*, focuses mainly on the bonds between siblings. The opening chapters, set in the author's native Afghanistan, are marked by an unusual poetic quality and an almost fairytale-like charm.
- Jitka Ambrožová
Khaled Hosseini was born in 1965 in Kabul, Afghanistan, to a diplomat and a Persian teacher. The communist coup and subsequent Soviet occupation in the late 1970s prevented his family from returning from Paris, where Hosseini's father was on a diplomatic mission. As a result, Khaled Hosseini has lived in the USA since the 1980s, where his family was granted asylum. He first studied medicine and practised as a doctor for eight years, but at the same time, he was already working on his first book, *The Kite Runner*, which became an instant bestseller in 2003, not just in the USA but around the world. His second novel, *A Thousand Splendid Suns* (2007), achieved similar popularity. After a long six-year wait, during which Khaled Hosseini, in addition to writing, also served as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and worked for his foundation, The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, which provides humanitarian aid to impoverished Afghans, his new novel, *And the Mountains Echoed*, was released to readers. It immediately became a worldwide success and has since been published in over 40 countries.