ABSTRACT
To begin with, a work of ®ction from a best-selling and troubling novel about women's experience of marriage under the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan. It tells the story of Rasheed's two wives ± Mariam, who had been his wife for many years, and Laila his new wife. Laila had come from a kind, educated family in which her father valued women and girls. She married Rasheed only after a series of related tragedies. This cruel and sel®sh man knew he could do whatever he chose to his wives because women counted for nothing under traditional culture which had been made worse under the Taliban. Laila had never experienced personal violence before. She was not prepared for what happened.
