The House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi

 Zeba finds herself in an Afghan prison accused of the brutal murder of her abusive husband.  Her American trained lawyer, Yusuf, believes that she might be saved with an insanity defense.  Is she insane ? No - but as she says, "Sometimes if you don't lose your mind a little bit, you'll never survive." The world inside the women's prison is not the horror you might imagine but a society of women preferable to the world outside the prison walls. Neither would you suspect that Zeba, who has suffered as a woman under the yoke of Afghan law, would emerge a heroine.  The story is rich with Afghan tradition and fascinating characters.  And although the book has the structure of a murder mystery, it is really political commentary on the culture and the legal system of Afghanistan.  One of my favorite books this year.

The Pearl that Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

Two stories - Afghanistan in the early 1900's and Afghanistan today - both tales of women who must make difficult decisions to survive.  Rahima is the second of five daughters in a contemporary Afghan family.  To make it possible for someone in this family of women to move freely in town, she becomes Rahim - a bacha posh - a girl who will be treated as a male in society. The entire community joins in the deceit.  She is free to go to school, shop in the market, play soccer with the boys - all freedoms she relishes.  But one of her favorite things is listening to her aunt Khala Shaima tell the story of Bibi Shekiba, her great, great grandmother who risked a great deal to survive in the early twentieth century.  As Rahim's father falls prey to the affects of opium and the family descends into poverty, she must become Ramina again so that she and her two sisters can be married off.  She is 15.  Her younger sister is 13.  The results are tragic. It is Shaima's story that provides Rahima the courage to escape a hopelessly restricted life and a brutal marriage.  It makes one ponder the difference between superficial change and fundamental change - certainly in this culture and just a surely in our own.