Download or read book The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul originally published as A Cup of Friendship written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[Deborah] Rodriguez paints a vivid picture of Afghan culture. . . . As if Maeve Binchy had written The Kite Runner.”—Kirkus Reviews After hard luck and heartbreak, Sunny finally finds a place to call home—in the middle of an Afghanistan war zone. There, the thirty-eight-year-old serves up her American hospitality to the expats who patronize her coffee shop, including a British journalist, a “danger pay” consultant, and a wealthy and well-connected woman. True to her name, Sunny also bonds with people whose language and landscape are unfamiliar to most Westerners, but whose hearts and souls are very much like our own: the maternal Halajan, who vividly recalls the days before the Taliban and now must hide a modern romance from her ultratraditional son; and Yazmina, a young Afghan villager with a secret that could put everyone’s life in jeopardy. In this gorgeous first novel, New York Times bestselling author Deborah Rodriguez paints a stirring portrait of a faraway place where—even in the fog of political and social conflict—friendship, passion, and hope still exist. Originally published as A Cup of Friendship. Praise for The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul “A superb debut novel . . . [Deborah] Rodriguez captures place and people wholeheartedly, unveiling the faces of Afghanistan’s women through a wealth of memorable characters who light up the page.”—Publishers Weekly “[A] fast-paced winner of a novel . . . the work of a serious artist with great powers of description at her disposal.”—The Kansas City Star “Readers will appreciate the in-depth, sensory descriptions of this oft-mentioned and faraway place that most have never seen.”—Booklist “Charming . . . [a book] to warm your heart.”—Good Housekeeping

Download or read book A Cup of Friendship written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Random House Digital, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-01 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Running a Kabul coffee shop that is patronized by ex-pats, American Sunny reaches out to a growing circle of new friends including a pregnant rape victim, a journalist with a painful secret, and a den mother who is engaged in a complicated affair.

Download or read book Farewell to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Regalo Press. This book was released on 2023-08-29 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kabul, August 2021 Sunny Tedder is back in her beloved coffee shop. After eight years away, she’s thrilled to reunite with her Kabul “family.” Yazmina now runs a couple of women’s shelters from the old cafe and dreams of a bright future for her two young daughters. Her sister Layla has become an outspoken women’s rights activist and, thanks to social media, is quite the celebrity. Kat, Sunny’s friend from America, is wrapping up her year-long stay in the land of her birth, but she’s facing some unfinished business. And finally, there’s elderly den mother Halajan whose secret new hobby is itself an act of rebellion. Then the US troops begin to withdraw, and the women watch in horror as the Taliban advance on the capital at ferocious speed… Set against the terrifying fall of Kabul in 2021, Deborah Rodriguez concludes her bestselling Little Coffee Shop trilogy with a heart-stopping story of resilience, courage, and, most importantly, hope.

Download or read book Farewell to The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2023-08-03 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE LITTLE COFFEE SHOP OF KABUL CAPTURED THE HEARTS OF MILLIONS READERS WORLDWIDE. NOW, THE COFFEE SHOP DOORS WELCOME YOU HOME ONE LAST TIME... Kabul, August 2021 Sunny Tedder is back in her beloved coffee shop. After eight years away, she's thrilled to reunite with her Kabul 'family': Yazmina now runs a pair of women's shelters from the old cafe, and dreams of a bright future for her two young daughters. Her sister Layla has become an outspoken women's rights activist and, thanks to social media, is quite the celebrity. Kat, Sunny's friend from America, is wrapping up her year-long stay in the land of her birth, but is facing some unfinished business. And finally there's elderly den mother Halajan, whose secret new hobby is itself an act of rebellion. Then the US troops begin to withdraw - and the women watch in horror as the Taliban advance on the capital at ferocious speed... Set against the terrifying fall of Kabul in 2021, Deborah Rodriguez concludes her bestselling Little Coffee Shop trilogy with a heart-stopping story of resilience, courage and, most importantly, hope.

Download or read book Kabul Beauty School written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Random House. This book was released on 2007-04-10 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid to this war-torn nation. Surrounded by men and women whose skills–as doctors, nurses, and therapists–seemed eminently more practical than her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother of two from Michigan, despaired of being of any real use. Yet she soon found she had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her profession became known she was eagerly sought out by Westerners desperate for a good haircut and by Afghan women, who have a long and proud tradition of running their own beauty salons. Thus an idea was born. With the help of corporate and international sponsors, the Kabul Beauty School welcomed its first class in 2003. Well meaning but sometimes brazen, Rodriguez stumbled through language barriers, overstepped cultural customs, and constantly juggled the challenges of a postwar nation even as she learned how to empower her students to become their families’ breadwinners by learning the fundamentals of coloring techniques, haircutting, and makeup. Yet within the small haven of the beauty school, the line between teacher and student quickly blurred as these vibrant women shared with Rodriguez their stories and their hearts: the newlywed who faked her virginity on her wedding night, the twelve-year-old bride sold into marriage to pay her family’s debts, the Taliban member’s wife who pursued her training despite her husband’s constant beatings. Through these and other stories, Rodriguez found the strength to leave her own unhealthy marriage and allow herself to love again, Afghan style. With warmth and humor, Rodriguez details the lushness of a seemingly desolate region and reveals the magnificence behind the burqa. Kabul Beauty School is a remarkable tale of an extraordinary community of women who come together and learn the arts of perms, friendship, and freedom.

Download or read book The House on Carnaval Street written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2014-06-05 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I hadn't been planning on making Mexico my new home, but the little house on the sea was all that I had left . . . Intimate, honest and touching, this is the story of Deborah Rodriguez's often hilarious journey of self-discovery. Forced to flee her life in Afghanistan, she leaves behind her friends, her possessions and her two beloved businesses: a hair salon and a coffee shop. But life proves no easier 'back home'. After a year living in California where she teeters on the edge of sanity, Deborah makes a decision: she's going to get the old Deb back. So, at the age of forty-nine, she packs her life and her cat, Polly, into her Mini Cooper and heads south to a pretty seaside town in Mexico. Home is now an unassuming little house on Carnaval Street. If you liked Eat, Pray, Love you will love The House on Carnaval Street. Rodriguez's story speaks to every woman, mother, sister, wife - to anyone who has ever questioned their relationships, their place in the world and the choices that they've made.

Download or read book The Stationery Shop written by Marjan Kamali and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A poignant, heartfelt new novel by the award-nominated author of Together Tea—extolled by the Wall Street Journal as a “moving tale of lost love” and by Shelf Awareness as “a powerful, heartbreaking story”—explores loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate. Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink. Then Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer—handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry—and she loses her heart at once. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran. A few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts—a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. For weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. With a sorrowful heart, she moves on—to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England—until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did you leave? Where did you go? How is it that you were able to forget me?

Download or read book One Last Look written by Susanna Moore and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-07-04 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Calcutta in 1836: an uneasy mix of two worlds–the patient, implacably unchangeable India and the tableau vivant of English life created of imperialism’s desperation. This is where Lady Eleanor, her sister Harriet, and her brother, Henry–the newly appointed Governor-General of the colony–arrive after a harrowing sea journey “from Heaven, across the world, to Hell.” But none of them will find India hellish in anticipated ways, and some–including Harriet and, against her better judgment, Eleanor–will find an irresistible and endlessly confounding heaven. In Lady Eleanor–whose story is based on actual diaries–we have a keenly intelligent and observant narrator. Her descriptions of her profoundly unfamiliar world are vivid and sensual. The stultifying heat, the sensuous relief of the monsoon rains, the aromas and colors of the gardens and marketplaces, the mystifying grace and silence of the Indians themselves all come to rich life on the page. When she, Harriet, Henry, and ten thousand soldiers and servants make a three-year trek to the Punjab from Calcutta under Henry’s failing leadership, Eleanor’s impressions of the people and landscape are deepened, charged by her own revulsion and exaltation: “My life,” she says, “once a fastidious nibble, has turned into an endless disorderly feast.” Harriet, whose passivity conceals a dazed openness to the true India, and Henry, with his frightened adherence to the crumbling ideals of empire, become foils to Eleanor’s slow but inexorable seduction. Historically precise, gorgeously evocative, banked with the heat of unbidden desires, One Last Look is a mesmerizing tale of the complex lure of the exotic and the brazen failure of imperialism–both political and personal. It is a powerful confirmation of Susanna Moore’s remarkable gifts.

Download or read book The Largesse of the Sea Maiden written by Denis Johnson and published by Random House. This book was released on 2018-01-16 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-five years after Jesus’ Son, a haunting new collection of short stories on mortality and transcendence, from National Book Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Denis Johnson NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Dwight Garner, The New York Times • Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air • Chicago Tribune • Newsday • New York • AV Club • Publishers Weekly “Ranks with the best fiction published by any American writer during this short century.”—New York “A posthumous masterpiece.”—Entertainment Weekly NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Washington Post • NPR • The Boston Globe • New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Bloomberg The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is the long-awaited new story collection from Denis Johnson. Written in the luminous prose that made him one of the most beloved and important writers of his generation, this collection finds Johnson in new territory, contemplating the ghosts of the past and the elusive and unexpected ways the mysteries of the universe assert themselves. Finished shortly before Johnson’s death, this collection is the last word from a writer whose work will live on for many years to come. Praise for The Largesse of the Sea Maiden “An instant classic.”—Newsday “Exceptional luminosity . . . hits a powerful vein.”—The New York Times Book Review “Grace and oblivion are inextricably yoked in these transcendent stories. . . . [Johnson’s] gift is to extract the beauty in all that brokenness.”—The Wall Street Journal “Nobody ever wrote like Denis Johnson. Nobody ever came close. . . . We’re just left with this miraculous book, these perfect stories, the last words from one of the world’s greatest writers.”—NPR

Download or read book Island on the Edge of the World written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2020-03-19 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Haiti. A poor country rich in courage, strength and love. As these four women are about to discover. Charlie, the rootless daughter of American missionaries, now working as a hairdresser in Northern California. But the repercussions of a traumatic childhood far from home have left her struggling for her way in life. Bea, Charlie's eccentric grandmother, who is convinced a reunion with her estranged mother will help Charlie heal. Lizbeth, a Texas widow who has never strayed too far from home. She is on a daunting journey into the unknown, searching for the grandchild she never knew existed. And Senzey, a young Haitian mother dealing with a lifetime of love and loss, who shows them the true meaning of bravery. Together they venture through the teeming, colorful streets of Port-au-Prince, into the worlds of do-gooders doing more harm than good, Vodou practitioners, artists, activists, and everyday Haitian men and women determined to survive against all odds. For Charlie, Bea, Lizbeth and Senzey, life will never be the same again . . .

Download or read book Margarita Wednesdays written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In answer to the question of what happened following her New York Times bestseller Kabul Beauty School, Deborah Rodriquez is back with a new memoir: “a brave and often hilarious tale of reinvention, told with pioneer woman brio and wicked humor” (Wendy Lawless, bestselling author of Chanel Bonfire). Irreverent, insightful, and blatantly honest, Deborah takes us along on her inspiring journey of self-discovery and renewal after she is forced to flee Afghanistan in 2007. She first lands in California, where she feels like a misfit teetering on the brink of sanity. Where was that fearless redhead who stared danger in the face back in Kabul? After being advised to commune with glowworms and sit in contemplation for one year, Rodriguez finally packs her life and her cat into her Mini Cooper and moves to a seaside town in Mexico. Despite having no plan, no friends, and no Spanish speaking skills, a determined Rodriguez soon finds herself swept up in a world where the music never stops and a new life can begin. Her adventures and misadventures among the expats and locals help lead the way to new love, new family, and a new sense of herself. In the magic of Mexico, she finds the hairdresser within, and builds the life she never knew was possible—a life on her own terms.

Download or read book The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul originally published as A Cup of Friendship written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[Deborah] Rodriguez paints a vivid picture of Afghan culture. . . . As if Maeve Binchy had written The Kite Runner.”—Kirkus Reviews After hard luck and heartbreak, Sunny finally finds a place to call home—in the middle of an Afghanistan war zone. There, the thirty-eight-year-old serves up her American hospitality to the expats who patronize her coffee shop, including a British journalist, a “danger pay” consultant, and a wealthy and well-connected woman. True to her name, Sunny also bonds with people whose language and landscape are unfamiliar to most Westerners, but whose hearts and souls are very much like our own: the maternal Halajan, who vividly recalls the days before the Taliban and now must hide a modern romance from her ultratraditional son; and Yazmina, a young Afghan villager with a secret that could put everyone’s life in jeopardy. In this gorgeous first novel, New York Times bestselling author Deborah Rodriguez paints a stirring portrait of a faraway place where—even in the fog of political and social conflict—friendship, passion, and hope still exist. Originally published as A Cup of Friendship. Praise for The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul “A superb debut novel . . . [Deborah] Rodriguez captures place and people wholeheartedly, unveiling the faces of Afghanistan’s women through a wealth of memorable characters who light up the page.”—Publishers Weekly “[A] fast-paced winner of a novel . . . the work of a serious artist with great powers of description at her disposal.”—The Kansas City Star “Readers will appreciate the in-depth, sensory descriptions of this oft-mentioned and faraway place that most have never seen.”—Booklist “Charming . . . [a book] to warm your heart.”—Good Housekeeping

Download or read book The Hemlock Cure written by Joanne Burn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-06-07 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A glitteringly dark historical novel of love, persecution, and survival set against the backdrop of one of history's most terrifying episodes: the Bubonic Plague. It is 1665 and the women of Eyam village keep many secrets. Especially Isabel and Mae. Isabel Frith, the village midwife, walks a dangerous line with her herbs and remedies. There are men in the village who speak of witchcraft, and Isabel has a past to hide. So she tells nobody her fears about the pious, reclusive apothecary, on whom she is keeping a watchful eye. Mae, the apothecary's youngest daughter, dreads her father's rage if he discovers what she keeps from him: her feelings for Rafe, Isabel's ward, or the fact that she studies from her father's books at night. But others have secrets too. Secrets darker than any of them could have imagined. When Mae makes a horrifying discovery, Isabel is the only person she can turn to. But helping Mae will place them both in unimaginable peril. Meanwhile another danger is on its way from London. One that threatens to engulf them all. . .

Download or read book A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2008-09-18 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting and powerful story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship and an indestructible love

Download or read book The Zanzibar Wife written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-01-25 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A lovely novel of female friendship and support when East meets West, of magic and things we may not understand, of hope, of comfort, and in the background the enticing salty, fishy, spicy aromas of Zanzibar.' - Dinah Jeffries 'Heart-warming and poignant. A story of female courage and friendship sprinkled with magic - what's not to love?' - Rosanna Ley 'a compelling account of three very different women, each challenged by circumstances that reveal the inner conflict in their lives, and their refusal to conform. An endearing read.' - Vaseem Khan A beautiful, exotic, sweeping, emotional story, perfect for fans of The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul An internationally best selling author **************** Oman. The ancient land of frankincense, wind-swept deserts, craggy mountaintops and turquoise seas. Into this magical nation come three remarkable women, each facing a crossroad in her life. Rachel, an American war photographer, who is struggling to shed the trauma of her career. Now she is headed to Oman to cover quite a different story - for a glossy travel magazine. Ariana Khan, a bubbly English woman who has rashly volunteered as Rachel's 'fixer', a job she's never heard of in a country she knows nothing about. And Miza, a young woman living far from her beloved homeland of Zanzibar. As the second wife of Tariq, she remains a secret from his terrifying 'other' wife, Maryam. Until the day that Tariq fails to come home... As the three women journey together across this extraordinary land, they quickly learn that, in Oman, things aren't always what they appear to be... The Zanzibar Wife is a bewitching story of clashing cultures and conflicting beliefs, of secrets and revelations, of mystery and magic, by the author of the beloved international bestseller The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul. 'As if Maeve Binchy had written 'The Kite Runner' - Kirkus Reviews

Download or read book The Moroccan Daughter written by Deborah Rodriguez and published by Random House Australia. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the twisted alleyways of the ancient medina of Fès to a marriage festival high in the Atlas Mountains, Deborah Rodriguez’s entrancing new bestseller is a modern story of forbidden love set in the sensual landscape of North Africa. Author of The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul and The Zanzibar Wife. Amina Bennis has come back to her childhood home in Morocco to attend her sister’s wedding. The time has come for her to confront her strict, traditionalist father with the secret she has kept for more than a year – her American husband, Max. Amina’s best friend, Charlie, and Charlie’s feisty grandmother, Bea, have come along for moral support, staying with Amina and her family in their palatial riad in Fès and enjoying all that the city has to offer. But Charlie is also hiding someone from her past – a mystery man from Casablanca. And then there’s Samira, the Bennises’ devoted housekeeper for many decades. Hers is the biggest secret of all – one that strikes at the very heart of the family. As things begin to unravel behind the ancient walls of the medina, the four women are soon caught in a web of lies, clandestine deals and shocking confessions . . .

Download or read book Where the Crawdads Sing written by Delia Owens and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-08-14 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE—The #1 New York Times bestselling worldwide sensation with more than 18 million copies sold, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “a painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature.” For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.