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Biography & Autobiography General

The Sleeping Buddha

The story of Afghanistan through the eyes of one family

by (author) Hamida Ghafour

Publisher
McArthur & Company
Initial publish date
May 2007
Category
General, General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781552786932
    Publish Date
    Nov 2007
    List Price
    $16.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781552786444
    Publish Date
    May 2007
    List Price
    $29.95

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Description

The story of one family's past - and Afghanistan's search for a future.As Hamida is drawn deeper into her country's present, other members of her family come to life for us -- her great-grandfather the Sufi mystic, her poetess grandmother who urged women to unveil, her great-uncle who wrote the first democratic constitution, her brace cousin Bahodine who paid for his views with his life. In her family's past she finds the story of Afghanistan itself.She finds its future in people like the American Beautician teaching women a new kind of independence and the archaeologist digging for his country's lost civilization -- in the form of a giant Sleeping Buddha.

About the author

Hamida Ghafour was born in Kabul and grew up in Toronto after her parents fled the Russian invasion when she was a small child. She returned to her homeland in the summer of 2003 to cover the reconstruction era for the London Daily Telegraph and Globe and Mail. Her experiences and her family’s unique history are the basis of The Sleeping Buddha. Hamida was a reporter for the Globe and Mail’s London bureau. She now lives in Amman, Jordon.

Hamida Ghafour's profile page