For courage, there must be something at stake. I come here with nothing to lose.

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.

Years later, I learned an English word for the creature that Assef was, a word for which a good Farsi equivalent does not exist: sociopath.

And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

Though there had been moments of beauty in it, Mariam knew that life for most part has been unkind to her. But as she walked the final twenty paces, she could not help but wish for more of it.

For a novelist, it’s kind of an onerous burden to represent an entire culture. That said, I’m in a unique position to speak on behalf of Afghanistan on certain issues that I feel are important, particularly the issue of Afghan refugees.

Yes, hope is a strange thing. Peace at last. But at what price?