“Sparks Like Stars” is about Sitara, a 10-year-old Afghan girl who in 1978 witnesses the slaughter of her family during a communist coup at the Presidential Palace in Kabul where her father sometimes lived and worked. She is rescued by one of the palace guards and smuggled out of the country by Tilly, the mother of Antonia, an American Embassy official to whom the palace guard delivered Sitara for safekeeping. Arriving in America, she assumes the identity of Aryana, an elder sister who was born in America while Sitara’s father was studying at a university in Oklahoma, but died before Sitara was born.

The first 20 percent of the book was interesting, as it described Sitara’s time at the Presidential Palace, leading up to the death of her parents in the coup that resulted in the assassination of the President. Then the pace slowed as the book went into far too much detail about the two weeks Sitara spent at the palace guard’s apartment, then the weeks she spent with Tilly and Antonia, and finally the days she spent with an abusive foster family in America before Antonia rescues her and formally adopts her.

The book then abruptly shifts forward 30 years to 2008, quickly summarizing the years in between the two sections of the book. The second half of the book details Sitara/Aryana’s attempts to find answers regarding the night of the coup and the location of her family’s bodies, prompting her to seek these answers in Afghanistan, accompanied by her adoptive mother, Antonia, and Clay, a journalist with detailed knowledge about Afghanistan. The second half of the book also seemed slow paced which detracted from my enjoyment of the book.

Overall, the prose was almost lyrical in some places, espousing wisdom regarding grief, survivor’s guilt, and learning to live with the memories of loved ones who have perished. Unfortunately, the slow pace of the book prevented the book from being outstanding. Other readers with more patience might enjoy the book more than I did.

Absolutely could not put this down. Phenomenally written story that pulled me in from page one. A story about life, death, the horrors of war, grief, love, and resilience, Nadia Hashimi paints a stunning picture of a girl who survives the coup against the Afghan King in the 1970’s and where her life takes her from that fateful and tragic night. Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Thirty years after a tragic event forced her to flee Afghanistan, an Afghan American woman returns to uncover the truth about her the disaster that destroyed her family.

I was totally taken with Nadia Hashimi’s novel, The Pearl that Broke Its Shell, so reading Sparks Like Stars was a no-brainer! It’s a beautifully written story full of rich and atmospheric writing. Just like with her previous books, this one will pull at your heart and make you experience a full range of emotions.

Typically, I don’t read many books that take place in the Middle East so this was a unique setting for me and one that I enjoyed quite a bit.

Here’s what you need to know:

Kabul, 1978: The daughter of a prominent family, Sitara Zamani lives a privileged life in Afghanistan’s thriving cosmopolitan capital. The 1970s are a time of remarkable promise under the leadership of people like Sardar Daoud, Afghanistan’s progressive president, and Sitara’s beloved father, his right-hand man. But the ten-year-old Sitara’s world is shattered when communists stage a coup, assassinating the president and Sitara’s entire family. Only she survives.

Smuggled out of the palace by a guard named Shair, Sitara finds her way to the home of a female American diplomat, who adopts her and raises her in America. In her new country, Sitara takes on a new name—Aryana Shepherd—and throws herself into her studies, eventually becoming a renowned surgeon. A survivor, Aryana has refused to look back, choosing instead to bury the trauma and devastating loss she endured.

New York, 2008: Forty years after that fatal night in Kabul, Aryana’s world is rocked again when an elderly patient appears in her examination room—a man she never expected to see again. It is Shair, the soldier who saved her, yet may have murdered her entire family. Seeing him awakens Aryana’s fury and desire for answers—and, perhaps, revenge. Realizing that she cannot go on without finding the truth, Aryana embarks on a quest that takes her back to Kabul—a battleground between the corrupt government and the fundamentalist Taliban—and through shadowy memories of the world she loved and lost.

Sparks Like Stars will make you cry, it will transport you to another place, and you won’t forget the book long after you’ve finished reading.

Coming out in March, you can pre-order here.

I really enjoyed this book. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to see where this journey was going. Would she survive? Were there others? How do you continue with life when everyone and everything you know is taken in the blink of an eye? The story is about perseverance in the wake of tragedy. It’s steeped in another culture so vastly different from my own and the writing transported there like no other before. I don’t think happy is the correct word for the ending of this book but satisfied might fit the bill. I would definitely recommend to friends and my book club.

I loved everything about this book! It was full of emotion, adventure, and finding closure for loss of family. This story was well written. It reads like a memoir but is a fictional story. You ache with the characters during their journey through life and the hardships they endure. The author included a wonderful description of life in Kabul before and after the takeover and the history of the country. She also delves into dealing with PTSD and survivor guilt. I would recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction and women's fiction!
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This was a special book, beautifully written, and captivating. The author does a wonderful job of creating a charismatic protagonist who cannot help but emotionally bear the scars of her childhood. But Aryana is also a survivor. She is strong, and smart, and caring, and still marred by the devastation she suffered forty years ago. After coming face-to-face with the man who helped her escape, the same man who might also be responsible for the deaths of her family, Aryana is determined to return to Afghanistan in search of the truth and to make peace with the life she lost.

One of my favorite quotes from the book: “I have not allowed them to be part of me, failing to understand that their light can be my dawn—that a good day begins with a good mourning.”

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for providing me the opportunity to read and review this beautiful book.