Episode #7: "I'm All of These Things Rolled Into One"
On this episode, we're excited to bring you Patmeena Sabit and Nadia Hashimi
​​​
Patmeena Sabit was born in Kabul a few years after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. When she was a month old, her family fled the conflict and became refugees in Pakistan, joining the millions of other Afghans that had sought refuge there. They later moved to the United States, and she grew up in Virginia. Her highly acclaimed 2026 debut novel, Good People, explores the lives of Afghan refugees, the "model immigrant" myth, and the consequences of public judgment. The death of an Afghan American teenager exposes the limits of assimilation and acceptance. She spent 10 years crafting this story of a community and family.​​
​
Nadia Hashimi is a pediatrician turned internationally bestselling author who draws on her Afghan culture to craft internationally bestselling books for adults as well as young readers. Her novels span generations and continents, taking on themes like forced migration, conflict, poverty, misogyny, colonialism, and addiction. Her books, including The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and When the Moon is Low have been translated into 17 languages. She has served on boards supporting Afghan children and is a member of the US-Afghan Women's Council and the Afghan-American Foundation.
​
Read Along!
%20Patmeena%20Sabit%20book%20cover.jpg)
“[A] gorgeous and powerful debut.”—Tommy Orange, The New York Times
“The year’s first great novel.”—The Minnesota Star Tribune
“A stunning read.”—Khaled Hosseini
“Utterly addictive, Good People will have everyone talking.”—Paula Hawkins
ONE THE NEW YORKER’S BEST BOOKS OF 2026 SO FAR
Zorah Sharaf could do no wrong. Zorah Sharaf brought shame upon her family. What’s the truth? Depends on who you ask.
The Sharaf family is the picture of success. Prosperous, rich, happy. They came to this country as refugees with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. And now, after years of hard work, they live in the most exclusive neighborhood, their growing family attending the most prestigious schools. Zorah, the eldest daughter, is the apple of her father’s eye.
When an unthinkable tragedy strikes, everyone is left reeling and the family is thrust into the court of public opinion. There is talk that behind closed doors the Sharafs’ happy household was anything but. Did the Sharaf family achieve the American dream? Or was the image of the model immigrant family just a façade?
Like a literary game of ping-pong, Good People compels the reader to reconsider what might have happened even on the previous page. Told through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, it is a riveting, provocative, and haunting story of family—sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, and the communities that claim us as family in difficult times.
%20Nadia%20Hashimi_City%20of%20Widows_Book%20Cover.jpg)
From bestselling novelist Nadia Hashimi—a gripping, occasionally terrifying, yet ultimately hopeful novel focusing on the women of Afghanistan in the years since the Taliban regained power.
​
In February 2020 the US began to withdraw troops from Afghanistan after nearly twenty years of occupation. A whole generation of Afghan women had been born during that time—women who had grown up in relative peace, gone to school, entered the professions, even served in the army and Parliament. The women of Afghanistan watched as the Taliban filled the streets again. They knew everything was about to change.
​
In the bustling, cosmopolitan city of Kabul, women are TV newscasters, shop owners, doctors, teachers, lawyers, even soldiers. They include Marjan, who fought with the Afghan army, and will risk everything to keep her daughter Hawa safe. In her earlier days Marjan was called Rahima and had lived the life of a bacha posh—a girl raised as a boy until she came of age. Forced into an early marriage, Rahima took the name Marjan when she fled her warlord husband. She’s created a whole new life for herself, one she will not give up easily.
​
So has Soraya, who defiantly wore red lipstick as she led the army’s all-female combat force over the objections of her upper-class family. Soraya’s now a wanted woman whose brother may choose not to shelter her from the Taliban. What will become of her? Or Mina, a journalist and broadcaster whose beautiful face is known to everyone in Kabul—including the new regime?
​
Fight or flight? Or find a third way? One thing is for certain: none of these women will meekly accept her fate.
An epic saga of fear, resistance, change, and reinvention, City of Widows gives voices to the unforgettable Afghan women at a crossroads of history.
​
“An essential read…heartbreaking, powerful, and indelible.” — Booklist (starred review)
We are proudly supported by:
