Summary of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Summary of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. It is divided into four parts. Part 1 focuses on Mariam, a young girl born in Afghanistan during the 1950s. Part 2 introduces Laila, born in Kabul in the late 1970s. The lives of both women converge in Part 3. Part 4 shifts to Laila’s perspective. Throughout the novel, both global and regional conflicts bring turmoil and devastation to the lives of these women and to the country of Afghanistan. Part 1: Mariam's Early Life Mariam spends her early years with her mother, Nana, in a small kolba (shack) built for them by her father, Jalil. Though Jalil visits Mariam weekly, he never acknowledges her as his legitimate daughter. Nana often reminds Mariam that she is a "harami," an illegitimate child. Mariam's only friend is Mullah Faizullah, the local tutor, who teaches her from the Koran and treats her like family. On her fifteenth birthday, Mariam's father fails to fulfill his promise to take her to the cinema. Mari…