*I received an ARC of this book from William Morrow's Free Reads Friday program in conjunction with the Book Club Girls*

Sparks Like Stars tells the story of a young Afghan girl, Aryana, and her journey from a privileged life in cosmopolitan Kabul of the late 70s to the United States as a political refugee and back to a very changed Kabul of the 2010s.

Aryana's journey is heartbreakingly detailed and weaves together stories of Afghanistan in both its ancient glory and the sophistication of the late 70s before its entanglement between the two Cold War powers of the USSR and USA. As we follow Aryana throughout her life, we see the effects of political violence, of trauma and of cognitive dissonance as she tries to hold on to the country she once knew and tries to find the truth of her past.

Like all of Hashimi's novels, Sparks Like Stars has plenty of twists and moments of high emotion and yet, Hashimi's writing never falls into the maudlin territory. It would be very easy to go "full soap opera" and while there are moments of crazy coincidence, all of the moments feels very earned. You root for Aryana the whole way through, despite her flaws and her pain often causing her to act in strange ways. Above all, it's Hashimi's love for a country that many of her readers have stereotyped negatively that allows for the narrative to stand well above many others.

SPARKS LIKE STARS by Nadia Hashimi is heart-wrenching and powerful story of family, tragedy, grief and remembrance that held me captive from beginning to end. Once started, I couldn’t put this book down. It is told in two timelines, Kabul, Afghanistan in 1978 and New York in 2018. In 1978, ten-year-old Sitara Zalmani is the daughter of a prominent family. Her father is the most trusted advisor to Afghanistan’s president, Sardar Daoud and her best friend is the president’s granddaughter. Sitara and her family practically live at the presidential palace. One fateful night, tragedy strikes when communists stage a coup and with the help of many of the palace guards, assassinate everyone present in the palace. Only Sitara survives the massacre, inexplicably saved by one of those guards. She eventually ends up under the care of an American diplomat serving in Kabul, then being raised in America with a new name, Aryana Shephard, and a whole new life. She later becomes a well-respected surgeon and has buried her trauma and loss deep inside. Nearly forty years after losing her family, Aryana is stunned to see the same soldier who saved her sitting in her examining room. Seeing him again revives her rage and grief and she knows she must find answers about what happened that tragic night decades ago. Her search takes her back to Afghanistan and with the help of a persistent journalist, she is able to uncover the truth and find some measure of peace and closure. The story is beautifully-written and emotional. It is hard to imagine the unthinkable trauma Aryana has endured. Her strength and resilience were very inspiring. I loved this haunting and timely story and it is one I will not soon forget. Highly recommended! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.

A beautiful written story of a young Afghan girl who tragically lost her entire family during a coup in Kabul. Starting with a brief description of Sitara’s carefree life in the palace, the book quickly transitions into the harrowing journey to escape the palace during the attack and her flight from Afghanistan to America. Changing her identity to immigrate to the US, Sitara/Aryana is adopted by the US diplomat that helped her escape. The story does jump in time to Aryana as a adult and takes the reader through another heartbreaking journey as she strives to move past the trama and finally put her family to rest. I spent many late night thoroughly engrossed in the story and needing a satisfying resolution to Aryana’s story. The book is well written and the story is unforgettable.

I really enjoyed this story of a time I was not familiar with about the falling of the government in Kabul.
Sitara is a well developed character and a real hero through her immense trials. The back and forth from present to past wove the different characters into the story in a compelling way.

I absolutely adored this novel. A heartbreaking story about a refugee who escapes the tumultuous past of her life, comes to America to start over. The folklore woven in between conversations with her family is hauntingly beautiful. I love a story with history, and this definitely has it. Sitara is an unbreakable force even at a young age, and it shines through in the author's writing. I highly recommend this novel.

Sitara is a young girl growing up in Afghanistan in the late 1970's. Her dad is an advisor to the President of Afghanistan, and her best friend is the President's granddaughter. Sitara lives a charmed life, until the day there is a military coup of the Presidency, and her family is murdered. She manages to hide during the siege, and is rescued by a soldier who delivers her to an American foreign service employee, Antonia, and her mother, Tilly. Flash forward to present day where Sitara (now Aryana) is an oncology surgeon, and comes face to face with the soldier who rescued her, but she fears murdered her family. Having very few answers to what happened that day and where her family is buried, she travels back to Afghanistan where she hope to find the answers to her questions. Very emotional story, told beautifully.

Although it’s only the second of January, I am sure this is going to be one of my favorite books of the year. It’s an absolutely beautiful story about human resilience, and maybe even forgiveness. A young Afghan girl is a witness to a government coup and her family’s deaths at the presidential palace in 1978 in Kabul. The story then unfolds as a soldier takes her from the palace and eventually thrusts her into the hands of a pair of Americans. The mother-daughter pair help get her out of danger in Kabul in a harrowing adventure on her way to the United States. Thirty years later, the young girl is now an oncologic surgeon and finds herself face to face with the soldier who had taken her from the palace as a child. Will she finally get some answers about that horrible night and the fate of her family? Will she ever have some peace? This is a highly recommended read.

This was a beautifully written book about heartbreaking events. I will be thinking about this one for a long time. would highly recommend this book.

This book is wonderfully, well written story about a young Afghani girl Sitara who survives a coup that kills her entire family and that of the president and his family. She is smuggled out of Afghanistan by a man that may have been a part of the killing. Sitara is taken in by Antonia, a member of the American embassy in Kabul, and her mother Tilly. They help get Sitara out of Afghanistan and to America. Sitara then becomes Aryana but life isn’t easy as an Afghan refugee. She faces many personal battles, bullying and hardship but she overcomes this to become a a successful Doctor; however there is a need to find her identity snd for this she must return to Kabul.
A very powerful, emotional read.

An interesting novel about a young privileged girl who loses her family during the political overthrow of the Afghanistan leader in the early Russian war with Afghanistan. She witnesses the shootings of her family but manages to escape by being rescued by a former guard who eventually turns her over to an American diplomatic representative . You then pick up the story 30 years later when she returns to Kabul in search for her family’s remains. Sitera (who took her dead sister’s name, Aryana, and birth certificate) when she escapes from Kabul has PTSD and survivors guilt which affects her entire life. The wonders of life in Kabul prior to the takeover are rich and descriptive. The story reads like a memoir and you have to remind yourself that is entirely fiction. It is an emotional journey with tragedy and resilience throughout. You really felt for the protagonist.

I feel SO grateful that I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley. It is GORGEOUS! The story is moving, the writing is beautiful, the characters three dimensional. It is a story of family, loss, grief, rememberance, and finding peace.

"Kabul, 1978: The daughter of a prominent family, Sitara Zamani lives a privileged life in Afghanistan’s thriving cosmopolitan capital. The 1970s are a time of remarkable promise under the leadership of people like Sardar Daoud, Afghanistan’s progressive president, and Sitara’s beloved father, his right-hand man. But the ten-year-old Sitara’s world is shattered when communists stage a coup, assassinating the president and Sitara’s entire family. Only she survives.

Smuggled out of the palace by a guard named Shair, Sitara finds her way to the home of a female American diplomat, who adopts her and raises her in America. In her new country, Sitara takes on a new name—Aryana Shepherd—and throws herself into her studies, eventually becoming a renowned surgeon. A survivor, Aryana has refused to look back, choosing instead to bury the trauma and devastating loss she endured.

New York, 2008: Forty years after that fatal night in Kabul, Aryana’s world is rocked again when an elderly patient appears in her examination room—a man she never expected to see again. It is Shair, the soldier who saved her, yet may have murdered her entire family. Seeing him awakens Aryana’s fury and desire for answers—and, perhaps, revenge. Realizing that she cannot go on without finding the truth, Aryana embarks on a quest that takes her back to Kabul—a battleground between the corrupt government and the fundamentalist Taliban—and through shadowy memories of the world she loved and lost."

One of the best books I have read recently. It take the reader on a journey with a young girl who witnesses a horrific tragedy happen to her family in Afghanistan. This a a story of true resilience on the part of the girl and how the horrors in her past impact her daily life for years to come. The author does a great job of bringing the story around to present day and examining the lives of the girl and others impacted by this tragedy. I highly recommend this book.

It took me a few days to get into the swing of this one, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down and stayed up too late to finish it. It’s a sad but beautifully written story that I can easily see lines of ‘could it be true/real?’ My one drawback was the amount of story created when Sitara/Aryana finally made it to the US. Her ordeal in Kabul and leaving Afghanistan seemed to be horrific enough without adding in bad foster parents to the mix.

A heart-wrenching story of a war survivor. Set in Afghanistan, Sitara grew up frequenting the palace where her father acted as an advisor to the King. She befriended the Kings grandchildren and spent days reenacting history in the lush gardens. Until one day a coup rises against the king and her entire family is killed but her. She is smuggled out of the palace by a guard she believes had a hand in the coup, at the very least did nothing to warn them. The shocking beginning leads into Sitara's life as an orphan and escape from Afghanistan. The story then jumps to Sitara, now Aryana, as she juggles life as a surgeon and her love life. The night of the coup haunts her and she realizes she can never truly love or be loved without having closure on the events if her trauma. She returns to Kabul to search for her family's remains.
This story is a difficult one to read. As a parent it is your worst nightmare to die before your child has grown, before you could teach them and nurture them. To see how a ten year old must grow up in a blink of an eye, to learn to trust strangers and survive her grief. I enjoyed her father's anecdotes very much. Even though she was young when she lost her family, her father's words stayed with her.
Overall, a wonderful story of survival and the road to forgiveness. I would recommend this book to those who have enjoyed The Stationary Shop and The Henna Artist. Although this one doesn't quite shine as bright as those it was a good read.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC ebook copy of Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi. I loved everything about this book! It was full of emotion, adventure, and finding closure for loss of family. This story was well written. It reads like a memoir but is a fictional story. Sparks Like Stars is a powerful story about a young Afghani girl who survives a coup that kills her entire family and that of the president and his family. Smuggled out by the man that may have been a part of the slaughter, Sitara ends up with Antonia, a member of the American embassy in Kabul, and Tilly, her free-spirited mother. This is a beautifully written story. I can't wait to read more books written by Nadia Hashimi. Highly recommend!

Sparks Like Stars is a powerful story about a young Afghani girl who survives a coup that kills her entire family and that of the president and his family. Smuggled out by the man that may have been a part of the slaughter, Sitara ends up with Antonia, a member of the American embassy in Kabul, and Tilly, her free-spirited mother. Antonia and Tilly help spirit her out of Afghanistan and on to America where she takes on the identity of Aryana, her older sister born in America but lost as a small child. Sitara, now Aryana, doesn't have an easy path - battling bullies for being different, and facing personal battles of loss and finding new family, but she succeeds and becomes a successful physician. But fragile and hard fought for walls come shattering down when she reencounters the soldier from so many years ago. Aryana realizes that while he will always be a monster in her mind, she will never be at peace until she goes back to Kabul to find her family - and what's missing within her. I still feel like this story could be more emotionally gripping than it is; I don't quite always feel how hard it is to Aryana. But that being said, this is a fantastic and deeply personal perspective on just how disruptive life is, especially in the Middle East, and the life-long trauma that it can cause to a child that is party to it.

This was a heavy read. Just heartbreak over and over. The beginning was bit hard for me to connect with the protagonist because so much was happening so fast. I didn’t feel her emotions as much as I was yearning to. Reading a child going through so much trauma was just really difficult. One thing after another without any breaks. It left me hopeless and numb. I had to take breaks in reading. Suddenly, the story jumps to 30 or so years later. The protagonist is an accomplished adult, but she is still experiencing trauma and ptsd time and time again. There is so much loss, resilience, and strength in this woman, and thankfully some healing. It is very emotional and and tragic. It almost feels like a memoir. Lots of politics and action in the first half. Overall, I enjoyed the book and the journey it took me on.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

This story spans continents and decades to tell the story of a young girl whose family was murdered in the Afghan communist coup of 1978. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about a relatively unknown part of Afghanistan's history. It was fascinating to get a glimpse into 1970s Afghanistan and to learn that it used to be a popular tourist destination for Westerners. It was also a surprise to learn that the country used to be fairly progressive and that woman used to be treated with respect and were entitled to rights like education. The novel does an excellent job showing the stark contrast between the thriving Kabul of the 1970s, and the subsequent sorrow and destruction 30 years later. This is a story about having everything taken away, fighting to overcome obstacles even when it seems like there's nothing worth fighting for, and finally coming to terms with loss and honoring those who are gone.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC ebook copy of Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi. The story follows a young girl, Aryana in 1978 Afghanistan, days before a military coup devastates her family. Her father is a trusted advisor to the President when the coup occurs. She escapes with the help of a guard and an American diplomat and immigrates to the U.S. Years later, now a successful surgeon she comes face to face with her past and must confront her trauma. Beautifully written, Sparks Like Stars is a book of heartbreaking loss, resiliency and forgiveness. I highly recommend - 5 stars!

Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi is a wonderful, haunting, and stunning fictional novel that is part historical fiction and part women’s fiction (it would be great for a book club pick).

The way the author was able to weave a story that seemed so real that it felt like I just experienced such a devastation along with the young Sitara, was impressive. Seeing what such a young girl had to experience, lose, and overcome with the loss of her family, life, and existence in Kabul, her new life and identity in America, and returning to Afghanistan many years later as Aryana to search for answers, closure, and some sort of peace made my heart go out to her so many times. It was heart wrenching, yet promising. Desolate and overwhelming, yet hopeful. Her journey will not be one I will soon forget.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.