City of Widows

In February 2020 the United States begins withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan after nearly twenty years. A generation of Afghan women has grown up in that time, going to school, entering professions, serving in the army and sitting in Parliament. Now the Taliban are back on the streets of Kabul, and these women can see what is coming.

The novel follows several women in the capital. Marjan fought with the Afghan army and will risk everything to protect her daughter, Hawa. As a child she was Rahima, a bacha posh: raised as a boy until reaching adulthood. She was married young, fled her warlord husband, took a new name and built a new life she has no intention of surrendering.

Soraya led the army's all-female combat force, wearing red lipstick in defiance of her upper-class family. She is now a wanted woman, and her brother may not be willing to hide her from the Taliban. Mina is a journalist and broadcaster whose face is known across Kabul, including to the new regime.

Each woman has to decide whether to fight, to flee, or to find some third way. This is a contemporary novel in several strands, with a tone that is frightening in places and hopeful at its close.