A Fort of Nine Towers

'If you read only one book this summer, make it this one . . . An astonishing tale of religious barbarians and human hope' Jeanette Winterson

'An affecting account of survival in the midst of brutality and fear' Sunday Times

Qais Akbar Omar was eleven when a brutal civil war engulfed Kabul. For Qais, it brought an abrupt end to a childhood filled with kites and cousins in his Grandfather's garden: one of the most convulsive decades in Afghan history had begun. Ahead lay the rise of the Taliban, and, in 2001, the arrival of international forces.

A Fort of Nine Towers is the story of Qais, his family and their determination to survive these upheavals as they were buffeted from one part of Afghanistan to the next. Drawing strength from each other, and their culture and faith, they sought refuge for a time in the Buddha caves of Bamyan, and later with a caravan of Kuchi nomads. When they eventually returned to Kabul, it became clear that their trials were just beginning.

'A book about Afghanistan written by an Afghan' Evening Standard

'Both a magical and a chilling book which conveys the strength of family in truly terrible times' Christina Lamb, Sunday Times Foreign Correspondent