This is the first novel by its now renowned author. It is the story of an Afghan boy, during the tumultuous years of Afghanistan starting from the fall of the monarchy, through Soviet Occupation, to the rise of Taliban and military intervention by US. The novel gives us an inside view into the Afghanistan that most of the world has not seen despite reading columns and columns of newspaper space regarding the country. The novel became a bestseller globally and was on the NY Times bestseller list for more than two years.