Brimming with Deborah Rodriguez’s remarkable gift for depicting the nuances of life in Kabul, and filled with vibrant characters that listeners will truly care about, A Cup of Friendship is the best kind of fiction - full of heart yet smart and thought-provoking. This is an outstanding first novel and makes the reader want to share in a cup of Sunny’s special “tea. Our group thought these might be shining a light on some of the conditions faced by women in Afghanistan; exploring cultural differences; highlighting the importance of kindness and showing the power of love. Book is in good condition with minor general wear and tear and moderate to heavy page discolouration/spotting throughout.

Yazmina, a young pregnant woman stolen from her remote village and now abandoned on Kabul’s violent streets. I’d read Deborah’s first book, a debut memoir titled: “The Kabul Beauty School” so of course I’ve been anxious to read this one, her first debut work of fiction “A Cup of Friendship”. Her sister Layla has become an outspoken women’s rights activist and, thanks to social media, is quite the celebrity.Charlie, the rootless daughter of American missionaries, now working as a hairdresser in Northern California. And lastly, the way they managed to find Yasmina’s sister towards the end of the book, without any lasting consequences or repercussions for stealing her away from people who wanted to sell her into prostitution wasn’t very credible either. She’s especially grateful that the busy days allow her to forget Tommy, the love of her life, who left her in pursuit of money and adventure.

If you answer no at any time, drop this book immediately and find a clerk to direct you to nonfiction or action/adventure books. One thing I liked about this novel: an ordinary American woman who has extraordinary gumption wrote it. Sphere is home to some of the world's best-loved authors and books, ranging from Jenny Colgan and Carole Matthews to Mark Billingham, Val McDermid and even Gwyneth Paltrow. The author did an excellent job of bringing forth the ongoing problem of the oppression of women in Afghanistan. Rashif and Halajan have been in love since young children, but had marriages arranged to other people.Personally, I think that anyone from Asia or the Middle East will be able to see through the propaganda this book is. I have read other books about Afghanistan, written by literary men, but this one is not an intellectual, meta-fictional product. However, you do feel constantly that it is written from a Western perspective and that all the characters, Western and Afghan, men and women, are incredibly stereotypical.