Publisher's Synopsis
Saira Shah grew up in Britain, but she was always told she came from somewhere else: a fairytale land of orchards and gardens. The country was Afghanistan, the storyteller her father. Then, aged twenty-one, Saira set out to find the truth about her family's homeland. Instead of finding a paradise, she was plunged into a country at war. The journey spanned more than fifteen years. Whether extricating herself from an arranged marriage, walking through minefields with the mujahidin, or slipping clandestinely into the Taliban's Kabul, Saira learnt the bitter limits of the stories she loved. But she discovered the reality of a country more complex and challenging than anything she could have imagined.
