The Lovers

In this brilliant, deeply reported account of two young people who risked their lives to be together, Pulitzer Prize winner Rod Nordland puts a face on the debate about women’s rights in the fundamentalist Muslim world.

Zakia and Ali were from different tribes, but grew up on neighboring farms in the hinterlands of Afghanistan. Separated by custom at puberty, they fell in love from afar. Defying family, cultural convention, and Islamic law, the two lovers eloped and, pursued by Zakia’s family, went into hiding. A harrowing, eye—opening story of one couple’s unshakable self—determination, The Lovers puts a face on the debate about women’s rights in the fundamentalist Muslim world.