A Thousand Splendid Suns

This book reminded me of a CNN special on the plight of Afghani women called Beneath the Veil. I can not fathom what these women go through. Putting on make up is an act of defiance.
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/index.veil.html

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to the post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.
http://www.khaledhosseini.com/