A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story

An unforgettable memoir about a boy who grew up in Kabul surrounded by gardens, poetry, and family traditions—until war shattered the world he knew.

Translated into more than twenty languages, A Fort of Nine Towers was selected as an Editor’s Choice by The New York Times Book Review, named a Washington Post Notable Book, and recognized as one of the Best Books of the Year by The Seattle Times and Kirkus Reviews. It was also a finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing and received an Honorable Mention from the United States Board on Books for Young People.

For young Omar, Kabul was a city of gardens, where he flew kites from his grandfather’s roof with his cousin Wakeel while family gathered below to drink tea, share stories, recite poetry, play music, make kabobs, sell carpets, and arrange marriages.

With rockets falling around them, Omar’s family fled their home and sought refuge in an old fort only miles away, a world apart from the violence. As the conflict deepened, his father led the family across northern Afghanistan in search of a secret way out. Their journey carried them through caves behind the ancient Buddha statues of Bamyan, among nomadic relatives tending camels and sheep, and across a country where survival depended on courage, faith, and the kindness of strangers.

Growing up amid Afghanistan’s wars, Omar endured imprisonment, displacement, and loss. At eighteen, he opened a secret carpet factory to provide work for girls forbidden by the Taliban from attending school, while his parents quietly taught them literature and science.

Rich with Afghan folklore and poetry, A Fort of Nine Towers is the story of a family that carried its memories, traditions, and love of learning through war—and preserved the beauty of a world that violence threatened to erase.

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