Five years ago, Dr Sofia Raso left her ‘normal’ life in Sydney to work as a doctor in Kabul. She lives in Shaahir Square, supporting local women through her medical work and midwifery training. She has fallen in love with the Afghan people and can’t imagine living anywhere else.
As a Western woman, Sofia feels it isn’t her place to interfere or comment on local affairs, even though she often sees evidence of the poor treatment of women in her clinic. But when threatening ‘night letters’, possibly from the Taliban, start to appear in the Square and two boys from local slum Jamal Mina disappear, likely taken by pedophiles, Sofia decides it’s time to speak up.
Her former lover, who now works for the UN, offers help and Sofia is drawn back into a love affair she thought was over. Her investigations also draw the interest of former warlord, now government minister, Massoud. Sofia’s ideals will clash with the brutal reality of politics in a war-torn country and her search will put herself and her friends in danger.
This beautiful, bittersweet story offers a fascinating glimpse into contemporary Afghanistan. The world of Kabul and its people are alive on the pages. Sofia is dismayed by the poverty and discrimination but she admires the resilient spirit of the locals, especially the women, and she is always conscious of her Western outsider status.

Reviewed by Melinda Woledge