In her latest novel, Nadia Hashimi spins a haunting tale of a young girl’s flight from her homeland to find safety in a strange and foreign place. “Sparks Like Stars” tells the heartbreaking story of Sitara, the daughter of one of Afghanistan’s presidential advisors during the 70’s. Sitara and her family are staying at the presidential palace when Sitara’s life is shattered by a coup.

Sitara’s life is one shaped by flight and tragedy as she finds herself handed off to strangers in the hopes that they can help her flee a country that no longer wants her. From here Sitara’s life ceases to be her own and the child has to bury her old self alongside the memories of her family to survive in her new life.

As an adult and respected doctor, Sitara (now known as Aryana) is able to the brunt of her childhood trauma tucked away in the back of her mind, but when a ghost from her past appears before her as a patient Sitara finds herself longing not only for her homeland, but for answers about her past. When she learns that Afghanistan’s government is beginning to look for the remains of those killed in the coup, Sitara sets out to find her family in the hopes of gaining closure.

Hashimi write’s Sitara’s story with a poignant grace as readers travel with her as a young girl through the trauma of loss and relocation to her adult self, who struggles to heal from her grief and survivor’s guilt. As a child her life is altered by death and as an adult, she works to prolong life as an oncologist. Throughout the story Hashimi weaves in details about the political climate in Afghanistan and how those politics have had an impact on Sitara’s life. While Sitara’s story is wrought with heartbreak, hope grows up through the cracks in her sorrow as she heals from her trauma.

Inspired by historical events, this novel transported me to 1978 Afghanistan alongside 10-year-old Sitara whose life is pretty wonderful. She loves her parents, younger brother, extended family, and close friends. Her father's position as advisor to Afghan President Daoud Khan provides a privileged life. In an instant, everything changes when the president, his family, and Sitara's family are murdered as the first victims of a coup. Smuggled out of the palace by an unlikely source, Sitara is delivered to an American diplomat who adopts and raises her in the US and around the world.

Then the storyline abruptly shifts to 2008 where Sitara is a successful oncologist in New York City. She is jolted from her routine when her significant other pursues a new career path and a patient with shocking connections to her past appears in her clinic. These events lead her to revisit her past in search of closure and healing.

The book has some lovely turns of phrase that caught my breath and had me rewinding to replay and consider them. However, the novel felt disjointed, more like two interconnected novellas with a very strange interlude about a bad foster care situation. Given the amount of history in the novel, I likely would've abandoned a print copy so I’m grateful I could listen to the audiobook. Mozhan Marno as narrator was excellent, and her voice was familiar to me from The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali.

I'm grateful I had the opportunity to experience a segment of Afghan history through well-researched fiction. Thank you to Book Club Girl/William Morris for the gifted egalley and audiobook.

It’s 1978 in Afghanistan. Young Sitara’s beloved father is an advisor to President Daoud Khan and her family were frequent visitors to the palace. The President’s grandchildren were close friends with Sitara and her younger brother. The palace was their playground. One day in April, the Soviet-backed People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan stages an attack against the President. Sitara manages to survive the coup after watching in horror as her family is murdered. Shair, one of the guards who turned on the President, helps Sitara escape the palace and places her with two American women.

The story shifts to 2008, New York City. Sitara, who now uses the name Aryana, is an oncologist. While now a caring healer, she has never been able to fully heal from the trauma she experienced in her home country. A chance meeting with Shair, who is seeking medical help, brings up all her feelings about her loss, which she has hidden from most who know her. Was Shair the one who murdered her family? Why did he help save her? And where was her family buried? Her anger is reignited and she seeks answers in Kabul.

Sparks Like Stars by author Nadia Hashimi tells the complex story of Afghanistan’s history over the past few decades through the eyes of Sitara/Aryana. Her loss is tragic yet she is a strong woman who uses her memories of her family to guide her. The setting is not a part of the world I normally read about in novels making this book extremely interesting and all the more impactful. It was a slower than normal read because there were so many passages that I re-read for the beauty of the writing. I hope you will take the time and read this book.

Sparks Like Stars drew me in like a camel to water. I had no idea what to expect from this book other than the recollection of enjoying Hashimi’s debut novel, The Pearl that Broke its Shell.

This story starts with a young Satira who lives a life of splendor due to her father’s role as the right-hand man to progressive President Daoud Kahn. He was responsible for abolishing the monarchy in Afghanistan and elected himself president. As much as he encouraged change, many wanted things to stay the same, which led to a deadly, communist military coup. During the takeover, Satira sees her entire family murdered, which leaves her orphaned and abandoned.

From here on out, Satira’s life is immensely changed. There are those that help her and those that don’t. She is pulled into life situations that one should have to deal with, especially a young girl. Hashimi created characters that warmed my heart, tore it apart and made me want to cry. Issues of trust, love, addiction, PTSD, death, closure, adoption and guilt were peppered throughout the story.

Honestly, this book read like a memoir, although it is not. The research was impeccable, and Afghanistan was brought to life. You can feel the author’s ties to the country as she puts you in place and time of the novel. Book clubs will love this one – there are endless things to talk about.

I found this to be a beautifully written and mesmerizing story. I don’t know much about Afghanistan except what you hear in the news. This story brought human faces to the coup and slaughter that happened there in 1978. Through this fictional story of Sitara/Aryana we learn about her world being torn apart and how she survives execution and ends up in America. It is a triumphant story as she becomes a doctor, just as her father had wished for her. When she eventually travels back to Kabul to try to find where her family is, she is faced with more heart-break, but also with healing that allows her to go on with her own life.

10 stars, if I could.

This is the best book I’ve read in quite a while. It grabbed my attention from page one and held it all through the book. The characters, the situations, and the way everything develops; it all works so well together. In fact, it makes me want to go back and change the ratings on other books I’ve read and reviewed, to lower them so that this book stands higher above them as it deserves. The writing was spectacularly well done, and it’s the first book that’s made me cry in a long time..

Sitara is a young girl in Afghanistan. Her father works with the country’s president, and Sitara thinks of President Daoud as her uncle. Life is wonderful as she and Neelab, Daoud’s daughter, play innocently on the palace grounds. She’s a happy, intelligent, inquisitive child. All is wonderful until one night when the palace is attacked. Sitara avoids the worst of the is rescued by one of the attackers, a former guard. He takes her to his apartment, where he holds her as prisoner. Then, one day, he takes her and drops her with an American woman. Sitara is wary of this woman and her mother, but little by little, they win her trust. We get to follow Sitara for the next 30 years, and it’s one heck of a trip.

The uprising at the palace isn’t the only one this young girl faces. It seems, at times, as if death follows her. And that’s not all. She lives her life always feeling hunted in one way or another, and a part of her always feels empty. However, in many ways she’s incredibly lucky.

I highly recommend this book. It was riveting and satisfying, had me on the edge of my seat, and rooting for Sitara. In the end, it left me feeling hopeful and rewarded for my reading efforts.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank them for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

After small Afghan Sitara Zamani's family die in the 1978 Communist coup, she's smuggled out of the country by an American diplomat, who adopts and raises her. It takes many years and a return to Kabul for her to come to terms with what happened.

Sparks Like Stars is a credible, empathetic, engrossing, and illuminating historical. Very highly recommended!!

The first half of this book is set in Afghanistan, a country I’ve been fascinated with since I started reading M.M. Kaye books in high school. I’m holding out hope that someday things will be peaceful enough for me to visit. One of the interesting things I was reminded of with this book is that you call the people Afghans and food is Afghani.

Sitara is a young girl of ten in 1978’s Kabul. Her father is a high ranking official, working for President Daoud and Sitara’s family frequently stayed at the Palace, or Arg. Sitara often plays hide and seek in the palace and gardens with the President’s children and she loves the library! One night the fairytale ends when there is a coup, and the palace soldiers and military turn on the President and his family. Miraculously Sitara survives and is smuggled out and eventually lands with two women who get her out of the dangerous country.

The second half of the book starts with the adult life of Sitara, now using a different name, and her career as an oncologist in New York. She’s never fully grieved her family or gotten over the violence of that night in Kabul. She keeps her barriers up and very few people know the story of her early life. She grapples with anger at the guard who smuggled her out and she’s never understood his motivation. Sitara decides that she needs to visit Kabul again to try and find out the truth and bring some closure to this early trauma in her life.

This is a slower read but I really like this author’s style and storytelling. She’s got a few I haven’t read, so hopefully I can get to those soon

I enjoyed this story of survival and of coming to terms with the past. I found Sitara a sympathetic character both as a child and as a woman, and I was drawn in by both her physical journey and her emotional one. There were some strong supporting characters, the setting was vividly brought to life, and it was interesting to read and learn about places and events with which I'd been unfamiliar.

Thank you NetGalley and The Bookclub Girls for this early read.

Beautifully written tale of a young girl surviving a coup d'etat in Afghanistan and her fraught attempts to escape that country and build a life in the United States. Author Nadia Hashimi is a master at crafting language that practically sings off of every page, it is just that beautiful. SPARKS LIKE STARS is at times a bit overwrought but, after all, the location is Afghanistan, so everything seems operatic in that location. The tale is compelling and impossible to put down once begun. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

A beautifully written book. Everything this author writes makes you feel...you can read her words and think you are actually in Afghanistan....you can feel the love of a family You can feel the fear of a small child left alone in the middle of a military coup. So many things about this book make it a very worthwhile read. I learned so much and at the same time I was reading a story of determination and strength. I will be recommending this book to all my friends as a not to miss book.

Sparks Like Stars
A Novel
by Nadia Hashimi
William Morrow and Custom House
You Are Auto-Approved
William Morrow
General Fiction (Adult) | Multicultural Interest | Women's Fiction
Also available as an audiobook
Pub Date 02 Mar 2021 | Archive Date 27 Apr 2021

Great book! Gives insight into the life of the people of Afghanistan. I highly recommend it. Thanks to William Morrow and Custom House as well as Netgalley for the ARC.

5 star

Sitara Zimani, a curious, caring and intelligent Afghan ten year old, escapes the violent coup that kills her entire family. A soldier close to her family rescues her and delivers her to an American diplomat who helps her travel safely to America and start a new life, with a new name, Aryana.
The second part of the novel explores her adult life and the long term effects of her trauma and grief. In a search for some sort of peace, she courageously returns to Afghanistan and the home she left decades earlier. Will Aryana be able to put her family to rest and find peace with her past?
This is my first book by Nadia Hashimi and I was not disappointed. I look forward to reading more from her.

A wonderful book. Great insight into the culture of Afghanistan. and the horrors the people experienced. Characters are well written and easy to develop a relationship with.

Sparks Like Stars is a lyrical and heartbreaking novel set between two time periods: Sitara's childhood in Afghanistan, when her family is murdered during a coup, and Sitara (now Aryana) as an adult in the US and attempting to come to terms with her past.

This novel explores so many ambiguities. As someone who majored in anthropology and loves museums, I found the discussions of antiquities being taken out of one country and sent to a more powerful country's museums fascinating, especially as the ring Sitara has stands in as a metaphor for where she truly belongs and whom she trusts. There are discussions about the roles the US and Russia played in the coup and the rise of the Taliban, and an individual who's actions are both heinous and courageous.

There were some moments that I wish were more fleshed out. Sitara's romantic relationships were a bit abrupt and predictable. But overall, I loved seeing her character growth and the ways she struggled to reconcile her past and her love for Afghanistan with both her and her country's present day circumstances.

This was a heartbreaking book that spans decades. As a young child in Kabul, Sitara life is turned upside down when her entire family is murdered Sitara is helped by palace guard and is adopted by an American diplomat. Years later as she is a surgeon, Sitara sees a patient and it is the palace guard who saved her. She vows to find out all the answers to what happened to her family. It was an emotional book from beginning to the very end I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this story about Sitara and the fictionalized account of a little known piece of Afghanistan history. The love of family and country is prominantly displayed through the actions and feelings of Sitara. Also the author had some great statements. For example, "Let people serve you information, but never let them serve you your opinion."
Even though I enjoyed this book, I did think the foster family situation was stereotyped. I also had some trouble with the second half of the book being slower paced than the first.
Thank you #NetGalley and #williammorrow for the e-arc of #sparkslikestars.

Thanks so much to Net Galley and William Morrow for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Sitara’s life gets turned upside down when she is stuck in the crossfires of a coup in Kabul, Afghanistan. She fights for her life and then later in life returns to find out what happened to her family. I have never read anything about this topic. Nadia Hashimi does a beautiful job of writing a narrative that encompasses tragedy, survival, hope and remembrance.

First, many thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley for this eARC. When I saw it was available, I jumped at the opportunity has I have really enjoyed every other book from Nadia Hashimi. Unfortunately, this wasn't the book for me. The first quarter of the book was a lot of "action scenes" which are not my favorite to read - I just prefer something more contemplative. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more but it still seemed disjointed - some of the flashbacks to medical school days seemed forced. And my least favorite part was the short stint in the foster home - I felt it was really unnecessary - it didn't advance the overall story and just added such trauma (TW: pedophilia) that really threw me off the flow of the book only for it to not really carry through as any sort of theme.

I absolutely loved this book! It was beautifully written and so moving. Aryana, Tilly and Nia were such strong and well written female characters. I learned a lot about Afghanistan and it's history in the 1970s. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.