The Bookseller of Kabul

In early 2002, Norwegian journalist Osne Seierstadh moved into the house of an Afghan bookseller to create a work about his life and the life of his family—his wives, children, brothers, and other relatives. She spent the first spring in Kabul after the fall of the previous regime, recording every aspect of the life around her. The focus was on the everyday life of a world closed to outsiders. Seierstadh describes the complex fates of Afghans and their hopes for a better future that they try to build amid ruins. This honest, richly detailed book reads like an enthralling novel.