The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

 

"Kabul had once been beautiful. Nooria remembered whole sidewalks, traffic lights that changed colour, evening trips to the restaurants and cinemas, browsing in fine shops for clothes and books."

Now, all that was left was rubble. One small room and a family seeking desperately to survive every day. Nooria's younger sister, Parvana would sit on the street corners with their father and help find customers who needed a hand in writing a letter or to read from one received.

It is so difficult surely to find humour or a little laughter in difficult times. And some of the father-daughter lines are very endearing. Like once, father and Parvana are walking and she notices this big mountain and asks for its name. Father says "Mount Parvana!" On being reprimanded by his wife to not lie to a child, he quips, "Mountains are named by people. I am a person and I name that mountain Mount Parvana!" This makes everyone laugh which tells me, all it takes is one strong person finding the strength to carry on.

Then one fateful night, Father gets beaten by the Taliban soldiers and dragged away into the darkness of the night. Search of Father was an impossible task by women. Did they find him? What ordeal did they have to succumb to during this search? Life as a growing woman was going to be a disaster. Someone had to run errands, someone had to go out for chores. So Parvana is pushed to become a bacha posh, Kaseem and takes the place of her father at the street corner, reading and writing letters.

What unfolds is sad and yet you feel pride in the strength that Parvana/Kaseem shows.

Edited to add: Parvana's life as Kaseem is interesting and tiring. It is not easy to lose one's identity. But, it was definitely exciting to be running on the streets without a burqa. She meets her school friend, Shauzia and find strength in unity. Soon Nooria, her older sister is slated to be married and the family leaves Kabul in search of a better life. Parvana is shattered when she gets news that maybe her family has gotten into trouble. She then decides to take on the journey in search of her mother and siblings. To know if she got to them, we will have to read the second part of the book - Parvana's Journey.

Read on to see how this beautiful story unfolds. This is a 4-book series (Parvana's Journey, Mud City, and My Name is Parvana). The animation version is available on Netflix and I recommend the movie very much.