Dear Zari: The Secret Lives of the Women of Afghanistan

Kargar, born in Afghanistan, fled the country with her family as a child during the chaos of the mujahedeen uprising against the Soviets in the 1980s. She gathered the astounding and deeply troubling stories for this book when she produced the BBC radio show, Afghan Woman’s Hour, which was broadcast throughout Afghanistan. Readers meet Nareen, who wants to marry her childhood sweetheart, and who is instead forced, at age 14, to marry a 40-year old drug addict who beats and rapes her; and Wazma, whose husband refuses to let her come home or see her child (and later marries another woman) after she loses her leg in a rocket attack in Kabul. Kargar includes the story of her own arranged marriage and how a woman divorcing her husband, even in London, can be ostracized. Though the courage of these women has inspired and educated listeners throughout Afghanistan, and the show itself has led to some progress, local traditions that deny women’s rights are pervasive, and happier stories like Mahgul’s, a widow who gained independence by starting a kite-making business, are rare. (June)