A House Without Windows

For two decades, Zeba was a loving wife, a patient mother, and a peaceful villager. But her quiet life is shattered when her husband, Kamal, is found brutally murdered in the courtyard of their home. Nearly catatonic with shock, Zeba is unable to account for her whereabouts at the time of his death. Barely escaping a vengeful mob, Zeba is arrested and jailed.

Awaiting trial, she meets a group of women, Nafisa, Latifa, and Mezhgan, whose own misfortunes have led them to these bleak cells. For these women, the prison is both a haven and a punishment, and there they form an indelible sisterhood. Is Zeba a cold-blooded killer, her cellmates wonder, or has she been imprisoned, like them, for breaking some social rule? Has she truly inherited her mother’s powers of jadu—witchcraft—which can bend fate to her will? Can she save herself? Or them?

A moving look at the lives of modern Afghan women, A House Without Windows is astonishing, unforgettable, and triumphant.