A House Without Windows: A Novel

A vivid, unforgettable work of women’s fiction and the story of an unlikely sisterhood—an emotionally powerful and haunting tale of friendship that illuminates the plight of women in a traditional culture—from the author of the bestselling The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and When the Moon Is Low.

For two decades, Zeba was a loving wife, a patient mother, and a peaceful villager. But her quiet life is shattered in this gripping murder mystery when her husband, Kamal, is found brutally murdered with a hatchet in the courtyard of their home. Nearly catatonic with shock, Zeba is unable to account for her whereabouts at the time of his death. Her children swear their mother could not have committed such a heinous act. Kamal’s family is sure she did, and demands justice.

Barely escaping a vengeful mob, Zeba is arrested and jailed. As Zeba awaits trial, she meets a group of women whose own misfortunes have also led them to these bleak cells: thirty-year-old Nafisa, imprisoned to protect her from an honor killing; twenty-five-year-old Latifa, who ran away from home with her teenage sister but now stays in the prison because it is safe shelter; and nineteen-year-old Mezhgan, pregnant and unmarried, waiting for her lover’s family to ask for her hand in marriage. Is Zeba a cold-blooded killer, these young women wonder, or has she been imprisoned, as they have been, for breaking some social rule? For these women, the prison is both a haven and a punishment. Removed from the harsh and unforgiving world outside, they form a lively and indelible prison sisterhood.

Into this closed world comes Yusuf, Zeba’s Afghan-born, American-raised lawyer, whose commitment to human rights and social justice have brought him back. With the fate of this seemingly ordinary housewife in his hands, Yusuf discovers that, like Afghanistan itself, his client may not be at all what he imagines.

A moving work of cultural fiction that looks at the lives of modern Afghan women, A House Without Windows is astonishing, frightening, and triumphant.

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For two decades, Zeba was a loving wife, a patient mother, and a peaceful villager. But her quiet life is shattered when her husband, Kamal, is found brutally murdered in the courtyard of their home. Nearly catatonic with shock, Zeba is unable to account for her whereabouts at the time of his death. Barely escaping a vengeful mob, Zeba is arrested and jailed.

Awaiting trial, she meets a group of women, Nafisa, Latifa, and Mezhgan, whose own misfortunes have led them to these bleak cells. For these women, the prison is both a haven and a punishment, and there they form an indelible sisterhood. Is Zeba a cold-blooded killer, her cellmates wonder, or has she been imprisoned, like them, for breaking some social rule? Has she truly inherited her mother’s powers of jadu—witchcraft—which can bend fate to her will? Can she save herself? Or them?

A moving look at the lives of modern Afghan women, A House Without Windows is astonishing, unforgettable, and triumphant. |

Praise for When the Moon Is Low: “A must-read saga about borders, barriers, and the resolve of one courageous mother fighting to cross over.” - O, the Oprah Magazine

“Nadia Hashimi has written, first and foremost, a tender and beautiful family story. Her always engaging multigenerational tale is a portrait of Afghanistan in all of its perplexing, enigmatic glory, and a mirror into the still ongoing struggles of Afghan women.” - Khaled Hosseini, author of And the Mountains Echoed and The Kite Runner

“A fascinating look at the unspoken lives of Afghani women, separated by generations and miles, yet achingly similar. This is a story to transport you and make you think.” - Shilpi Somaya Gowda, New York Times bestselling author of Secret Daughter

Praise for The Pearl That Broke Its Shell: “Hashimi weaves together two equally engrossing stories in her epic, spellbinding debut.” - Booklist (starred review)