The Blind Man's Garden

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The author of The Wasted Vigil gives us a searing, exquisitely written novel set in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the months following 9/11--a story of war, of one family's losses, and of the simplest, most enduring human impulses.

Jeo and Mikal, foster brothers from a small Pakistani town, secretly enter Afghanistan: not to fight with the Taliban against the Americans, but rather to help care for wounded civilians. Their good intentions, though, can't keep them out of harm's way. From the wilds of Afghanistan to the heart of the family left behind--their blind father, haunted by the death of his wife and by the mistakes he may have made in the name of Islam and nationhood; Jeo's wife, whose increasing resolve helps keep the household running; and her superstitious mother--the narrative takes us on an extraordinary journey. In language as lyrical as it is piercing, in scenes at once beautiful and harrowing, The Blind Man's Garden unflinchingly describes a topical yet timeless world, powerfully evoking a place where the line between enemy and friend is indistinct, and where the desire to return home burns brightest of all.

NADEEM ASLAM is the author of three highly acclaimed novels: Season of the Rainbirds, which won a Betty Trask Award and was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize; Maps for Lost Lovers, winner of the Kiriyama Prize, short-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and a New York Times Notable Book; and, most recently, The Wasted Vigil. He is also the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship.