A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns
First edition cover
AuthorKhaled Hosseini
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical Fiction / War Literature
PublisherRiverhead Books (and Simon & Schuster audio CD)
Publication date
May 22, 2007
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback) and audio CD
Pages384 pp (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN978-1-59448-950-1 (first edition, hardcover)
OCLC85783363
813/.6 22
LC ClassPS3608.O832 T56 2007

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, following the huge success of his bestselling 2003 debut The Kite Runner. Mariam, an illegitimate teenager from Herat, is forced to marry a shoemaker from Kabul after a family tragedy. Laila, born a generation later, lives a relatively privileged life, but her life intersects with Mariam's when a similar tragedy forces her to accept a marriage proposal from Mariam's husband.

Hosseini has remarked that he regards the novel as a "mother-daughter story" in contrast to The Kite Runner, which he considers a "father-son story".[1] It continues some of the themes used in his previous work, such as familial dynamics, but instead focusing primarily on female characters and their roles in contemporary Afghan society.

A Thousand Splendid Suns was released on May 22, 2007,[2] and received favorable widespread critical acclaim from Kirkus Reviews,[3] Publishers Weekly,[4] Library Journal,[5] and Booklist,[6] and became a number one New York Times Best Seller for fifteen weeks following its release.[7] During its first week on sale, it sold over one million copies.[8] Columbia Pictures purchased film rights in 2007, and a theatrical adaptation of the book premiered on February 1, 2017, at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference KH interview was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Penguin.com (USA). Penguin Group USA. c. 2008. Archived from the original on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
  3. ^ "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Kirkus Reviews. March 1, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference PW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Library Journal (review archived at MARINet). January 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  6. ^ Huntley, Kristine (March 2007). "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Booklist. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  7. ^ Emrich, Stephanie (June 12, 2013). "'The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns' author Khaled Hosseini flies into Fairhope". Gulf Coast News Today. Archived from the original on July 4, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  8. ^ Jurgensen, Paige (September 24, 2012). "Hosseini's novel tears the heart". The Linfield Review. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference lat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).