A Thousand Splendid Suns

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

Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman

Laila lay there and listened, wishing Mammy would notice thatshe, Laila, hadn't becomeshaheed, that she was alive, here, in bed with her, that she had hopes and a future. But Laila knew that her future was no match for her brothers' past. They had overshadowed her in life. They would obliterate her in death. Mammy was now the curator of their lives' museum and she, Laila, a mere visitor. A receptacle for their myths. Theparchment on which Mammy meant to ink their legends.