Farhad is a typical student, interested in wine, women and poetry, and negligent of the religious conservatism of his grandfather. But one night changes all that. This work talks about the fractured mind and emotions of a country caught between religion and the political machinations of the world's super powers.

Reminiscent of William Golding's Pincher Martin in its use of an intense, repetitive vocabulary of powerful images, and for its chilling twist in the tail, this is a mesmerising book. To read it is to be plunged into the Afghan imagination and soul.