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Book Summary and Reviews of The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul

A Novel

by Deborah Rodriguez

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  • Published:
  • Jan 2011, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the author of the "big-hearted ... inspiring" (Vogue) New York Times bestseller Kabul Beauty School comes a fiction debut as compelling as real life: the story of a remarkable coffee shop in the heart of Kabul and the women who meet there - each with a story and a secret that will lead them all to an extraordinary friendship.

Sunny is an energetic American living in Kabul, whose pride and joy is the coffee shop she runs for expats - and their stories that filter through her daily life. Yazmina is a young woman from a remote village; when she's kidnapped and left on a city street, pregnant and alone, Sunny gives her a home - but all Yazmina wants is to find a way to rescue her sister from the same fate. Into the coffee shop - and Yazmina's and Sunny's lives - come Candace, a wealthy American looking for a way to help, but who ends up needing help herself; Isabel, a determined journalist whose past secret might keep her from the biggest story of her life; and Halajan, the den mother whose long-hidden love affair breaks all the rules - and threatens to turn her own son against her. As these women gather together and discover there's more to one another than meets the eye, they'll form a bond that will change not only their lives, but the lives of an entire country.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Readers will appreciate in-depth, sensory descriptions of this oft-mentioned and faraway place that most have never seen." - Booklist

"A craftsman and a storyteller, Rodriguez captures place and people wholeheartedly..." - Publishers Weekly

"But this first novel is engrossing ... especially those with an interest in current events in the Middle East..." - Library Journal

"But ultimately her cozy sentimentality undercuts the elements of harsh realism, as if Maeve Binchy had written The Kite Runner." - Kirkus

This information about The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Deborah Rodriguez Author Biography

Photo © Chad Hunt

Deborah Rodriguez is the author of the international bestsellers--the memoir The Kabul Beauty School, and the novels The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, and Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, all inspired by her life in Afghanistan. She is also the author of Margarita Wednesdays, a memoir based on her experiences following her return to America, and the novels The Zanzibar Wife and Island on the Edge of the World.

Deborah spent five years teaching and later directing the Kabul Beauty School, the first modern beauty academy and training salon in Afghanistan. She also owned the Oasis Salon and the Cabul Coffee House, and is the founder of the nonprofit organization Oasis Rescue, which aims to teach women in post-conflict and disaster-stricken areas the art of hairdressing.

She ...

... Full Biography
Link to Deborah Rodriguez's Website

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