Storyteller's Daughter cover art

Storyteller's Daughter

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Storyteller's Daughter

By: Saira Shah
Narrated by: Saira Shah
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About this listen

 The startling memoir of a young woman
shaped by two dramatically disparate worlds

Born in Britain, Saira Shah was inspired by her father's dazzling stories to rediscover the now lost life their forebears knew for 900 years within sight of orchards, snow-topped mountains, and the minarets of Kabul. This is Saira -- part sophisticated and sensitive Western liberal, part fearless (even fierce) life-gulping Afghan, falling in love with her ancestral myth, chasing Afghanistan. Saira, at 21, becoming a correspondent at the front during the war between the Soviets and the Afghan resistance. Then Saira, self-imprisoned in a burqa, risking her life to film Beneath the Veil -- her acclaimed record of the devastation of women's lives by the Taliban. Saira discovering her extended family, discovering a world of gorgeous family ritual, of community, of male primacy, of arranged marriages, finding at last the (now war-ravaged) family seat, discovering at last what she wants and what she rejects of her compelling heritage.

©2003 Saira Shah; (P)2003 Penguin Books Art & Literature Asia Journalists, Editors & Publishers Politicians Politics & Activism Science Women
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I bought this to give me a basic history of Afghanistan and introduction to the culture. Shah's personal connection to Afghanistan (through her ancestry) gave her story colour and gave me a sense of the country. Shah doesn't pretent to give a neutral view of the country.

The book takes you from the Soviet occupation up to the September 11th terrorist attack on the twin towers.

The abridging wasn't great. The story doesn't quite hang together and you have a strong feeling that you have been denied important elements to the story.

A personal view of Afghanistan

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