Chapter 6
6. They buried Nana in a corner of the cemetery in Gul Daman. Mariam stood beside Bibi jo, with the women, as Mullah Faizullah recited prayers at the graveside and the men lowered Nana’s shrouded body into the ground. Afterward, Jalil walked Mariam to the kolba, where, in front of the villagers who accompanied them, […]
Chapter 5
5. I know what I want,” Mariam said to Jalil. It was the spring of 1974, the year Mariam turned fifteen. The three of them were sitting outside the kolba, in a patch of shade thrown by the willows, on folding chairs arranged in a triangle. “For my birthday . . . I know what […]
Chapter 4
4. Mariam loved having visitors at the kolba. The village arbab and his gifts, Bibi jo and her aching hip and endless gossiping, and, of course, Mullah Faizullah. But there was no one, no one, that Mariam longed to see more than Jalil. The anxiety set in on Tuesday nights. Mariam would sleep poorly, fretting […]
Chapter 3
3. One of Mariam’s earliest memories was the sound of a wheelbarrow’s squeaky iron wheels bouncing over rocks. The wheelbarrow came once a month, filled with rice, flour, tea, sugar, cooking oil, soap, toothpaste. It was pushed by two of Mariam’s half brothers, usually Muhsin and Ramin, sometimes Ramin and Farhad. Up the dirt track, […]
Chapter 2
Chapter 1
1. Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami. It happened on a Thursday. It must have, because Mariam remembered that she had been restless and preoccupied that day, the way she was only on Thursdays, the day when Jalil visited her at the kolba. To pass the time until […]
Acknowledgments
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, thank you to my Heavenly Father for blessing me beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you to my husband, Jason, for pulling me through this utter bear of a year. For holding my hand in the darkest moments and making me laugh when I was sure I’d never find anything funny again. […]
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Thirty-Nine Georgia Three years later I smiled and read the last page once more before whispering a quiet goodbye to Jameson and Scarlett. Then I shut the book and returned to the real world, where my real husband was currently getting ready to launch his new book four aisles over. My thumb trailed across […]
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Eight August 1944 Poplar Grove, Colorado “Be careful around the steps, love,” Scarlett said to William as he toddled along the edge of the newly finished gazebo, his hands gripping the individual spokes of the railing as he went. He grinned over his shoulder and kept going. She abandoned the record she’d selected and […]
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Seven Georgia “Talk about swoon,” Hazel sighed. “Yeah, that was a good part.” I switched the phone to my other ear and finished washing the dirt off my hands. The seedlings were coming along, and in just a few weeks, they’d be strong enough to be transplanted into the garden. Right in time for […]