The Widow's Husband

A mysterious beggar wanders into the tiny Afghan village of Char Bagh, a hundred miles north of Kabul. Soon he reveals himself to be much more than a mere beggar: he is a God-crazed beggar—a "malang", a man who channels miracles. The malang transforms the lives of the villagers--of Ibrahim the spiritually tormented young headman, of Soraya, the headman's fragile, haunted wife; of the widow Khadija's, the headman's powerful sister-in-law. But soon enough, the Malang's influence is swamped by greater forces: the year is 1840, and the British have just invaded Afghanistan. The Widow’s Husband is an epic story of British imperialism as seen from the Afghan side. It takes readers from the soot-blackened kitchens of village compounds to the intricate labyrinth of Kabul’s Grand Bazaar, from the walled compounds and elegant dinner parties of the doomed British community to the icy slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains, where the First Afghan-British War came to its horrific climax.