Storyteller's Daughter

Version: Abridged
Author: Saira Shah
Narrator: Saira Shah
Genres: Biographies
Publisher: HarperAudio
Published In: September 2003
# of Units: 4 CDs
Length: 4 hours
Ratings:
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Overview

The startling memoir of a young woman
shaped by two dramatically disparate worlds
Born in Britain, Saira Shah was inspired by her father's dazzling stories to rediscover the now lost life their forebears knew for 900 years within sight of orchards, snow-topped mountains, and the minarets of Kabul. This is Saira -- part sophisticated and sensitive Western liberal, part fearless (even fierce) life-gulping Afghan, falling in love with her ancestral myth, chasing Afghanistan. Saira, at 21, becoming a correspondent at the front during the war between the Soviets and the Afghan resistance. Then Saira, self-imprisoned in a burqa, risking her life to film Beneath the Veil -- her acclaimed record of the devastation of women's lives by the Taliban. Saira discovering her extended family, discovering a world of gorgeous family ritual, of community, of male primacy, of arranged marriages, finding at last the (now war-ravaged) family seat, discovering at last what she wants and what she rejects of her compelling heritage.

Selected Reviews

Storyteller's Daughter

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 2/5

Storyteller's Daughter

by Connie Rice
  • Book Rating: 4/5

More...

Read All 3

Reviews (3)

Storyteller's Daughter

Written by Anonymous on January 11th, 2010

  • Book Rating: 2/5

I could not complete this one. I rented it after finishing A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini so that I could continue to get a richer history. I was hoping for more of a picture into the Afghan people's lives like I got from A Thousand Splending Suns but it just was not there.

Storyteller's Daughter

Written by Connie Rice on January 23rd, 2007

  • Book Rating: 4/5

Shah's telling her own story in this audiobook. She has done a remarkable job writing and narrating the story. Afghanistan's history is made clearer with her writing about the family history incorporated into world history.

Storyteller's Daughter

Written by Anonymous on July 27th, 2005

  • Book Rating: 5/5

Sairah Shah's memoir is an adventurous account of her trips to war torn Afghanistan. The fact that so little is known about this region makes this book even more interesting. Shah narrates the audio book as well and she has an extremely pleasant voice. I listened to this book all in one sitting.

Selected Reviews

Storyteller's Daughter

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 2/5

Storyteller's Daughter

by Connie Rice
  • Book Rating: 4/5

More...

Read All 3

Author Details

Author Details

Shah, Saira

Saira Shah lives in London and is a freelance journalist. She was born in Britain of an Afghan family. She first visited Afghanistan at age 21 and worked there for three years as a freelance journalist, covering the guerrilla war against the Soviet occupiers. Later, working for Britain's Channel 4 News, she covered some of the world's most troubled spots, including Algeria, Kosovo, and Kinshasa, as well as Baghdad and other parts of the Middle East. Her documentaries Beneath the Veil and Unholy War have both been broadcast on CNN several times.