A Thousand Splendid Suns

One last time, Mariam did as she was told.

But the game involves only male names. Because, if it's a girl, Laila has already named her.

That night, it was blessing enough to be beside him. It was blessing enough to know that he was here, to feel the warmth of him next to her, to lie with him, their heads touching, his right hand laced in her left

A dry, barren field, out beyond wish and lament, beyond dream and disillusionment- There, the future did not matter. And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion.

But when it came to fathers, Mariam had no assurances to give.

all the hardships a person had to face none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.

Mammy's hand floated up to her chest, tapped there. "Inhere. What's inhere. " Then it fell flaccid. "You just don't know."

As a reminder of how women like us suffer,she'd said.How quietly we endure all that falls upon us.

But, mostly, she missed Nana. Mariam wished her mother were alive to see this. To seeher, amid all of it. To see at last that contentment and beauty were not unattainable things. Even for the likes of them.

Let me tell you something- A man's heart is a wretched, wretched thing, Mariam. It isn't like a mother's womb. It won't bleed, it won't stretch to make room for you.