Historical Fiction

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Newest first Oldest first
1
Sparks Like Stars
Sparks Like Stars
Nadia Hashimi
Sparks Like Stars begins in Kabul in 1978, when ten-year-old Sitara Zamani witnesses the violent overthrow of Afghanistan’s president and the murder of members of his household, including her family. Rescued by an American diplomat, she is taken to the United States and grows up under a new name, attempting to build a life far removed from the trauma of her childhood. Decades later, now a successful doctor in New York, she encounters a man whose appearance brings back memories she has spent years trying to suppress. Determined to uncover the truth about her past, she returns to the history she left behind. Hashimi explores the lasting effects of political violence, the fragility of memory, and the complex relationship between identity and belonging, asking whether confronting painful truths can help someone reclaim a lost part of themselves.
Afghanistan 2021
2
Above Us the Milky Way
Above Us the Milky Way
Fowzia Karimi
Above Us the Milky Way is a story about war, immigration, and the remarkable human capacity to create beauty out of horror. As a young family attempts to reconstruct their lives in a new and peaceful country, they are daily drawn back to the first land through remembrance and longing, by news of the continued suffering and loss of loved ones, and by the war dead, who have immigrated and reside with them, haunting their days and illuminating the small joys and wonders offered them by the new land. The novel's structure is built around the alphabet, twenty-six pieces written in the first person that sketch a through-line of memory for the lives of the five daughters, mother, and father. Ghost stories and fairytales are woven with old family photographs and medieval-style watercolor illuminations to create an origin story of loss and remembrance.
Afghanistan 2020
3
When the Moon Is Low
When the Moon Is Low
Nadia Hashimi
When the Moon Is Low follows Fereiba, an educated Afghan woman whose relatively secure life is shattered when her husband becomes a victim of political violence. Left to care for her three children, she decides to flee Afghanistan as the country’s instability and insecurity intensify. Their journey towards Europe exposes them to dangerous border crossings, exploitation, separation, and the uncertainty faced by refugees seeking safety. When circumstances force Fereiba and her teenage son, Saleem, onto different paths, both must find the strength to survive in unfamiliar environments. Moving between their experiences, Hashimi portrays the human cost of displacement and the difficult choices families make when their homes are no longer safe. The novel explores motherhood, resilience, and the search for freedom, highlighting the courage required to rebuild a life when everything familiar has been lost.
Afghanistan 2016
4
A House Without Windows: A Novel
A House Without Windows: A Novel
Nadia Hashimi
A House Without Windows follows Zeba, an Afghan woman accused of murdering her husband, Kamal. Arrested and imprisoned while awaiting trial, she finds herself in a women’s detention centre in Kabul, where she encounters other women whose lives have been shaped by violence, coercion, and restrictive social expectations. Zeba’s children struggle to understand their mother’s arrest, while Yusuf, an Afghan-born lawyer raised in the United States, returns to Afghanistan and becomes involved in her defence. As the investigation unfolds, the novel reveals the complicated circumstances surrounding the death and the challenges of establishing justice in a society where women’s voices are often dismissed. Through Zeba’s story and those of her fellow prisoners, Hashimi examines domestic abuse, gender inequality, and the courage required to seek justice in a system that frequently fails vulnerable women.
Afghanistan 2016
5
The Pearl That Broke It's Shell
The Pearl That Broke It's Shell
Nadia Hashimi
Set in Afghanistan, The Pearl That Broke Its Shell follows two women separated by a century but connected by their struggles against restrictive social expectations. In contemporary Kabul, Rahima grows up in a family without sons. Her parents allow her to become a bacha posh—a girl temporarily dressed and treated as a boy—giving her freedoms that would otherwise be denied to her. A century earlier, her ancestor Shekiba faces similar restrictions and hardship, eventually finding an opportunity to survive by living as a man. As their stories unfold in parallel, both women navigate a society shaped by patriarchal traditions, political instability, and gender inequality. Hashimi explores the resilience of women who challenge the boundaries imposed upon them, revealing how the desire for education, independence, and dignity can become an act of resistance.
Afghanistan 2014
6
Earth and Ashes
Earth and Ashes
Atiq Rahimi
Earth and Ashes is a spare, haunting novella set in Afghanistan during the Soviet war. Dastaguir, an elderly man, travels with his young grandson, Yassin, through a devastated landscape after their village is destroyed in a bombing. Dastaguir must find a way to tell his son, who works in a distant mine, that the rest of their family has been killed. Meanwhile, Yassin, whose hearing has been damaged by the explosion, struggles to understand what has happened and why the world around him has changed so dramatically. Through their journey, Rahimi portrays the devastating consequences of war on ordinary people, particularly children and the elderly. The novella explores grief, silence, trauma, and the difficulty of communicating unbearable truths in a world where violence has shattered both families and communities.
Afghanistan 2010