A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story

One of the rare memoirsof Afghanistan to have been written by anAfghan, A Fort of Nine Towers reveals the richnessand suffering of life in a country whosehistory has become deeply entwined withour own.

For the young Qais Akbar Omar, Kabulwas a city of gardens where he flew kitesfrom his grandfather’s roof with his cousin Wakeel while their parents, uncles, and auntsdrank tea around a cloth spread in thegrass. It was a time of telling stories, recitingpoetry, selling carpets, and arranging marriages.Then civil war exploded. Their neighborhoodfound itself on the front line of aconflict that grew more savage by the day.

With rockets falling around them,Omar’s family fled, leaving behind everythingthey owned to take shelter in an oldfort—only a few miles distant and yet a worldaway from the gunfire. As the violence escalated, Omar’s father decided he must takehis children out of the country to safety. Ontheir perilous journey, they camped in cavesbehind the colossal Buddha statues in Bamyan,and took refuge with nomad cousins,herding their camels and sheep. While hisfather desperately sought smugglers to takethem over the border, Omar grew up on theroad, and met a deaf-mute carpet weaverwho would show him his life’s purpose.

Later, as the Mujahedin war devolved into Taliban madness, Omar learned about quiet resistance. He survived a brutal and arbitrary imprisonment, and, at eighteen, opened a secret carpet factory to provide work for neighborhood girls, who were forbidden to go to school or even to leave their homes. As they tied knots at their looms, Omar’s parents taught them literature and science.

In this stunning coming-of-age memoir, Omar recounts terrifyingly narrow escapes and absurdist adventures, as well as moments of intense joy and beauty. Inflected with folktales, steeped in poetry, A Fort ofNine Towers is a life-affirming triumph.

A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2013
A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013