A house without windows /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A vivid, unforgettable 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 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 sisterhood.

Into this closed world comes Yusuf, Zeba's Afghan-born, American-raised lawyer, whose commitment to human rights and desire to help his motherland 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 look at the lives of modern Afghan women, A House Without Windows is astonishing, frightening, and triumphant.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In her third novel, following When the Moon Is Low and The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, best-selling author Hashimi delivers another moving portrayal of life in contemporary Afghanistan. Zeba, a devoted mother of four, is arrested after her husband, Kamal, is found brutally murdered in the courtyard of their home. While Zeba's children don't believe their mother would commit such a crime, Zeba is unable to account for her whereabouts at the time of the murder-and Kamal's family demands justice. Chapters alternate between Zeba's lonely childhood after her father disappeared and her difficult years as a young bride with the personal plight of Yusef, an inexperienced lawyer born in Afghanistan, raised in Queens, and viewed as an outsider by a town suspicious of strangers. As in her previous books, Hashimi creates compelling minor characters in cellmates Latifa, Nafisa, and Mezghan, who become a makeshift family as word of Zeba's jadu, or magic, spreads throughout the prison. Meanwhile, Yusef is committed to make a difference in a country he used to call home, even if he can barely recognize that home anymore. -VERDICT With elements of love, anger, and sheer optimism, Hashimi's latest is sure to engross those who enjoyed her previous novels and attract new readers as well. [See Prepub Alert, 2/21/16.]-Stephanie -Sendaula, Library Journal © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Hashimi's third novel, following When the Moon Is Low (2015), opens with a murder in an Afghan village: Kamal lies dead in his own courtyard, his wife, Zeba, beside him, bloody hands clutching the hatchet used to kill him. Zeba is torn from her four children, promptly arrested, and taken to Chil Mahtab, a women's prison that houses inmates accused of crimes such as having sex outside of marriage and running away from their families. Zeba keeps to herself, but the other women are fascinated by her crime and her mysterious mother, who is rumored to practice a form of black magic, and they start to turn to Zeba for help with their own misfortunes. As Zeba's fellow prisoners rally around her, Zeba's young lawyer, Yusef, works tirelessly to find a way to save Zeba's life and learn the truth about the night of Kamal's death. More than just the Afghan Orange Is the New Black, Hashimi's novel is populated by vibrant, complex characters and offers a piercing look at the lives of women in Afghanistan.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2016 Booklist

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi was born and raised in New York and New Jersey. She graduated from Brandeis University with degrees in Middle Eastern Studies and Biology. She enrolled in medical school in Brooklyn and completed her pediatric training at NYU/Bellevue hospitals in New York City.

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell is her debut novel. Nadia is also the author of When the Moon is Low, A House Without Windows and One Half from the East.

(Bowker Author Biography)