City of Widows: A Novel - Paperback

From bestselling novelist Nadia Hashimi comes a gripping, occasionally terrifying, yet ultimately hopeful novel about the women of Afghanistan in the years since the Taliban regained power.

In February 2020, the US began withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after nearly twenty years of occupation. A whole generation of Afghan women had been born during that time—women who had grown up in relative peace, gone to school, entered the professions, and even served in the army and Parliament. As the Taliban returned to the streets, they knew everything was about to change.

In the bustling, cosmopolitan city of Kabul, women are TV newscasters, shop owners, doctors, teachers, lawyers, and even soldiers. Among them is Marjan, who fought with the Afghan army and will risk everything to keep her daughter, Hawa, safe.

In her earlier life, Marjan was known as Rahima and lived as a bacha posh—a girl raised as a boy until she came of age. Forced into an early marriage, Rahima took the name Marjan when she fled her warlord husband. She has built a new life for herself, one she will not give up easily.

Then there is Soraya, who defiantly wore red lipstick while leading the army's all-female combat force, despite the objections of her upper-class family. Now a wanted woman, she must wonder whether even her own brother will shelter her from the Taliban.

And Mina, a journalist and broadcaster whose face is known throughout Kabul—including to the new regime.

Fight or flight? Or find a third way?

One thing is certain: none of these women will meekly accept her fate.

City of Widows is an epic saga of fear, resistance, change, and reinvention, giving voice to unforgettable Afghan women at a crossroads in history.