Oh what a beautifully written story. I was caught up in the story from the start. It was sad but also hopeful. I was only confused once when the main character went from a child to adult but that didn’t last long. I loved how everything flowed together so well. Also such a perfect narrator for the story.

The first half of the book was AMAZING – 5 stars! I could not stop listening to it, literally couldn’t put it down. The second half was very good, but not as amazing.
1978 Kabul, Afghanistan. Sitara, a 10-year-old girl from a family who works for the president in Kabul is the only one to survive the ambush. She is smuggled out of the grounds by a guard and given to an American mother and daughter living in Kabul. In order to enter into the United States, Sitara takes on the identity of her deceased sister who was born in America, Aryana, who would have been 12.
2008 New York City. Sitara / Aryana has come so far in her life, she is now an oncologist surgeon. One of her patients is from Kabul and strikes up all of these intense memories from her past.
This was a tragic, emotional and beautiful story about survival, family, culture and longing. The character development of Sitara / Aryana, was amazing. She grew and changed throughout the story without letting go of her past. What are the results of the choices you make? What does survival guilt do to you? This was such an emotional read from the first words through the last. I loved hearing about the cultural references in Afghanistan. The writing was wonderful and really drew the reader in. Even though it is a heavy read, I highly recommend you add this to your TBR.

This was my first time reading anything by Hashimi and I really loved her lyrical, poetic writing. This story of loss and love is heartbreaking and packs an emotional punch. Her female characters were so well drawn and I especially loved the grandmother, Tilly. The narration of the audiobook by Mozhan Marnò hit just the right note. I look forward to reading more of this author.

4.5 strong stars! Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi read like a memoir but was actually a fine example of historical fiction. This book was beautifully written and captured the essence of Afghanistan before the Communist coup and after. Nadia Hashimi made it easy to picture the streets, people, shops, soldiers, gardens, and the life that occurred within the walls of the castle prior to the coup that was staged by the communists. Sparks Like Stars was very well researched. It was told in a dual time line. The story gripped my attention from the very beginning and held it until the very end. I listened to Sparks Like Stars on audiobook. It was brilliantly narrated by Mozhan Marno. Her voice was rich and captivating. I found it hard to turn the audiobook off. I was so engrossed in Sitara’s heart wrenching story. It ran for a little over thirteen hours. I listened to Sparks like Stars over the course of two days.

The first part of Sparks Like Stars took place in Kabul in 1978. Sitara Zalmani was a ten year old smart and curious young girl who was living a privileged life. Her father was one of the prominent advisors to Sardar Daoud, Afghanistan’s progressive president. Sitara lived with her mother, father and little brother. Her family spent a lot of time at the castle because of Sitara’s father’s position. Life for Sitara and her family was good. All that changed in the course of one night. The communists staged a coup and multiple assignations occurred. The President was killed as were the members of Sitara’s family. Sitara was the only survivor from the brutal massacre. Shair, one of the castle guards, smuggled Sitara out of the castle. He was able to find refuge for Sitara with an American diplomat. Sitara witnessed the assignation of her family. She believed that Shair helped to kill her family. Her family was always kind to him. How could he have done this? Sitara was angry, sad, confused and scared. The American diplomat, Antonia and her mother, took her in and patiently waited for Sitara to learn to trust them, Antonia and her mother were able to get Sitara out of Kabul to America. Sitara took the name of her older sister who had been born in America but died before Sitara was born. Sitara became Aryana Shepherd. After a nightmarish start in the foster care system, Sitara now Aryana was finally adopted by Antonia. Aryana learned to love and care deeply for Antonia. She even came to call Antonia mom.

Sparks Like Stars jumped ahead forty years to the year 2018. Aryana, now an accomplished surgeon, lived in Queens and worked in a hospital in New York City. Her patients had cancer. One day a much older version of the guard that saved her all those years ago, showed up in her clinic. Aryana still believed that Shair could have played a part in killing her family. When Aryana recognized Shair all the old bottled up feelings from long ago surfaced. Aryana was determined to get Shair to admit to his part in killing her family. She needed Shair to tell her where her family was buried so she could finally give them the burial they deserved. Aryana’s desire for answers was awakened. She decided to finally go back to Kabul to get her answers. Aryana was accompanied by Antonia and a photo journalist she had met at a book signing. Will she get closure?

Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi was heart breaking, full of tragedy, and hopeful at the same time. The themes of survival, strength, healing, hardships, loss, anger, resentment, and resilience were evident throughout this book. Sitara became a brave, intelligent and resilient young woman who kept her memories of that fateful night hidden from most but always in her most private thoughts. Sparks Like Stars was a magnificent book. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Harper Audio for allowing me to listen to the advanced copy of this audiobook through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi

Usually I save if I would recommend this book to the end but I can’t, read this book you will not be disappointed!

This book starts off telling the story of a young girl, Sitara, who survives the coup of Kabul in 1978. She is smuggled out of the palace by a guard named Shair. He takes her to an American diplomat, who adopts and raises her in America. Changing her name to her deceased sister who had an American passport she changes her identity to be Aryana. She becomes a surgeon, specializing in cancers.

Three decades after Shair comes to her office but does not recognize the child he smuggled out of the palace. She wills him to answer if he killed her parents and where they were buried. Aryana decides to return to Kabul to try and find where her family was laid to rest.

This book was an emotional roller coaster. I say that in the best way. One chapter you would be crying, the next anger, the next exhilarated. Such a great story of hope and self growth. It also had a lot of history that I would otherwise not know about Afghanistan.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Mozhan Marno. It was a very good production, I would recommend it. I also want to read the book again because it had so many great quotes in it. Quotes that make you stop reading and just think about their depth. Nadia Hashimi is such a great story teller, the descriptions of Kabul were breathtaking. I can’t wait to read the other books that she has written!

Thank you so much to NetGallery for this advanced copy of the audiobook. As well as the publisher William Morrow and Harper audio for the great production.

Sitara Zalmani was a force to be reckoned with in Kabul, Afghanistan 1978. Living in the Presidential Palace she spends her time with her best friend Nelab, reading books in the Presidential Library, and cherishing time with her parents and brother. A military coup upends Sitara’s life and she loses everything most dear to her. We follow Sitara as she fights for her life and ends up in the care of two American women thanks to a guard, Shair, that got her out alive. The first half of the book was full of action and politics of 1970s Afghanistan.

Sitara is forced to assume the identify of her dead sister, Aryana, once she gets to America with the women who saved her. We later see Aryana in 2018 New York working as a Surgeon where she is forced to reckon with her past when Shair comes to see her as a patient. How does your past shape your future? Can you ever truly forget trauma and tragedy or does it shape you without you even knowing?

This book took me on a journey and made me feel every emotion possible. I dived into Afghanistan history, felt sympathy for Sitara and all the girls she represents, and learned how PTSD and survivor’s guilt can shape an entire person’s life. I loved the short chapters, the narrator, Mozhan Marno, and how Sitara was relatable even to someone like me whose life is completely different.

The frequent mention of Oklahoma was fun to hear- as I am from there I rarely hear the state discussed in novels. The comparison between how Oklahoma came to be and what has been done to Afghanistan was not lost on me.

Sparks Like Stars challenged my knowledge on Afghanistan history and opened my eyes to a dark period of time for a country. I can’t recommend this book enough if you’re looking for a meaningful and emotional read. Books that give you emotions and make you question your own journey are the best ones.

I could tell that Nadia Hasimi is a medical doctor herself as I read accurate and vivid descriptions of Aryana as a surgeon. Hasimi also explores NYC during 9/11 through the eyes of Aryana and the xenophobic people she has to face. This story is not a dual timeline- we follow along on Sitara’s/Aryana’s life as she lives it. Nadia Hasimi wrote a beautiful piece of art that felt like a memoir and I can’t wait for everyone to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Audio for this advanced copy. Publication date is March 2nd, 2021.

I really enjoyed this book and couldn't stop once I started it. It is a heart-wrenching story of a young Afghan girl who survives the coup that kills the rest of her family. It is her story of perseverance amidst all the hardships she faced. It is beautifully written and thought-provoking. It is definitely a book that will stay with me for a while.

No matter how I review this book I don't think that I will ever do it justice! This is the best book of the year soo far! I loved everything about this book! The realness, the love, the history, the culture and even the passion!
Sitara is a daughter of a prominent family, her father is the right hand man of Sardar Daoud the progressive president of Afghanistan. Then one night everything changed.
The communist plan an attack, a coup, assassinating the president and all of Sitara's family. She is the sole survivor and the only reason that she survived was because a guard named Shair smuggled her out. Eventually he was able to get her to the American Ambassador to help smuggle her out of the country using her deceased sister's identity.
Fast forward to 2008 forty years after that fatal night Shair ends up being one of Sitara's patients and seeing him brings up all the anger, resentment and emotions from that night. She wonders if Shair was at fault for her family's deaths and she is dealing with her now boyfriend Adam whom she has kept out of all her past. She is working on dealing with her emotions, and how she feels with Shair coming back into her life. Then she decides to go back to Afghanistan  after all this time to find the answers she needs and to find out exactly what happened that night when the coup happened.
I loved this story, all of the raw emotions I was crying by the end of it. Sitara is so brave, and smart and she is trying her best to survive and she does but the hardships and the loss that she faces is very great she still survives and does what she needs to. This is the best book that I have read this year and I recommend it to anyone. It's a journey and it's a story that will reach into your heart and drag you along with the tale! I read it and then listened to the audiobook. It's soo amazing! Thank you Netgally, HarperCollins Publishers and Harper Audio.

This is a beautiful story rich with Afghan history is about Sitara, who at ten years old witnesses her family get murdered in a coup in Kabul. She escapes, though that night haunts her for years as she eventually moves to the US and becomes a doctor.
A patient she recognizes from her previous life sends brings her back to that night and sets her on a search for answers and she returns to her native Afghanistan. presents the history of this time in an engaging way.
This book is beautifully written and the author clearly did her research and it pays off in being able to bring the scenes to life with such vibrancy and emotion.
Hashimi also draws upon her own experience as an Afgan Amerian doctor in NYC surrounding 9/11, an important perspective to hear.

Many thanks to HarperAudio and NetGalley for the advance copy.

SPARKS LIKE STARS is a sweeping, propulsive story that follows Sitara, a young Afghan girl who is orphaned the night of the Saur Revolution in 1978. A guard who participated in the coup to unseat and murder President Daoud Khan smuggles Sitara out of the palace, and eventually deposits her with an American diplomat and her mother; the women manage to get Sitara to the US, using documents belonging to Sitara's American-born, and now deceased, sister Aryana. Sitara assumes her sister's name and begins a harrowing journey to the States. Years later, Dr Aryana Shepherd can't outrun the lingering grief and trauma of her childhood when her newest patient turns out to be the very palace guard who both saved and abused her all those years ago. Aryana returns to Kabul, which is at once the city she remembers and an entirely new place. As she searches for answers about what really happened to her family the night of the coup, Aryanna must come to terms with the guilt that would drown her, the country that betrayed her, and the woman she became the night of the revolution.

This was a phenomenal story, beautifully written by Hashimi and perfectly narrated by Mozhan Marno. Aryana's journey is one of resilience, hope, struggle, and becoming; she survives the unspeakable, and in many ways, SPARKS LIKE STARS is about Aryana reclaiming her voice, speaking herself into the narrative. I learned so much -- about the Saur Revolution, yes, but also about the Tillya tepe excavation, Soviet involvement in Afghan politics, and Afghan culture and values. Hearing Marno's Dari, and the nuance she brings to the accents of English-speaking Afghans, profoundly enriched my experience of the story.

SPARKS LIKE STARS is a perfect selection for readers of THE GOLDFINCH and THE KITE RUNNER.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperAudio for providing an advance digital copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio copy of this book. This book was so inspiring, yet heartbreaking. I enjoyed it immensely. Thank you.

One of the most beautifully written novels I’ve read in a long time. The writing seemed poetic in the best kind of way and kept me engaged throughout the book. A story of tragedy, loss, family and a quest to figure out unanswered questions. Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC. #netgalley #sparkslikestars

This was a very wonderful story, I really fell in love with this book, with the characters and the stories they went through.

Sparks Like Stars, it's the story of an Afghan Woman that started when she was just a child, (1978)
when everything happened, she was present at that terrible event that changed her life forever, and even the entire country, she lost all hope, she felt terrified to realize that she was now all alone, completely at the mercy of people who only wanted power and to destroy a beautiful country that has never been the same.

Sitara Zamani was the daughter of a prominent family she was very happy and enjoying her life like any other child but everything was stolen from her, her house, her childhood even her own family. After many years of that terrible event (2018), Sitara has never been the same, She started a new life in a new country with a new name (Aryana Shepherd) so she could survive. she hasn't been able to find a closer or even a happy life, she wants to find her family, she wants to make things right for them and for herself even if that means returning to the one place that started all.

What a brilliant and magnificent book, I spend many times crying for Sitara, she really didn't deserve so many things that happened to her and to her family, I love that she found a mother a woman who took her under her wing and made her into a magnificent woman. Reading Sparks Like Stars not only opened my eyes to many things I didn't know about Afghanistan but somehow remind me of stuff that I heard before but never really understanding. Until the Outsiders come with their crazy ideas changing the laws and implementing things that were not kind at all for many of the citizens and the country.

My favorite characters definitely Antonia and Tilly both women really brought so much joy to Sitara's life, they were her saviors and the only two people that risked everything they had to save a child who was all alone in the world. Antonia was a magnificent woman I really love how strong she was and how she lifted Sitara's spirit at all times.

This was beautiful and I'll keep repeating this the whole review, Sparks Like Stars broke my heart many times in many ways for Sitara, for her family, for her country, and for the many atrocities, humans had done in the name of God or religion.

This is the story of a woman trying to recover her heart, her soul, and her faith, trying to mend her broken parts that were left in her country.

The Narrations by Mozhan Marnò were amazing, this is my first time listening to her work and I really enjoy it, she really gave so much to Sitara and the story, she literally brought so much depth and brought so many tears with her amazing performance.

I'm totally a new fan of Nadia Hashimi, her words were beautiful, her story was very reliable and heartwrenching and I love that she brought up so many things that we didn't know, and the rest of the world needs to know.

I hesitated to listen to this because it sounded too depressing to read at a stressful time. I'm so glad I tried it. I was fascinated by Afghanistan and engrossed in the story. I will be recommending this to all our library book clubs.

This book was beautiful. It may just be my favorite book of the month. This will definitely stay with me for a while.

Thank you so much NetGalley & Harper Audio for my advanced copy.

What I Loved-

✨ How Epic This Story Felt- it spans decades and continents. We follow Sitira from the time she is a young girl in Afghanistan and follow her across the ocean and into adulthood in America where she is a doctor.
I would love to see this book translated to film.

✨ Sitira - I loved Sitira as a character. She was so real to me! As I was reading / listening to this book I had to constantly remind myself that she was a fictional character.
Her and I have nothing in common but I found her relatable. I identified with her need/want for answers and her love for her family. Present and past.

✨ The Emotions- I felt so many things while reading this book. It was heartbreaking at times and very hopeful at others. I so wanted Sitira to get the ending I thought she deserved.

✨ The Audio- The narrator was amazing! Mozhan Marno also narrated The Stationary Shop which I absolutely loved! ( highly recommend that book as well )

Sparks Like Stars is making me want to go and do my own research of Afghanistan and it’s history.

Overall- highly recommend. Please read this book. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

Sitara is the 10 year old daughter of a politically connected family who is staying at the palace when a communist coup kills everyone in the palace and with the help a guard she is able to escape. She ends up at the home of a woman who works at the American Embassy. While this seems like a positive ending to her story this is only the beginning of her fighting to saving her life, trying to come to terms with her grief, and going home many years later.

This books was absolutely fabulous and I give it 5 stars! It was a heartbreakingly beautiful story. From coup to 9/11 to emotional freedom.

I just reviewed Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi. #SparksLikeStars #NetGalley

4.5 Rounded Up
This is the journey of Sitara. The daughter of a high ranking advisor to Afghan President Daoud, she is the sole survivor of a coup that kills her family along with Daoud's. Her story takes us from her childhood as a 10-year-old in Kabul to her adult life in NYC as a renowned oncology surgeon.
**Trigger warning: Sexual Assault and Violence**
Haunting. Heartrending. Horrifying.
These would be the first words that come to mind when I think of how to describe this book. The story is beautifully written and the characters wholly lifelike. I struggled to connect with the story for the first few chapters, but then I was engaged. By the end of part one, I needed a short break to recover myself, and was able to dive into the second part with renewed vigor. It was difficult to read (listen to) the story of someone who has not known happiness since she was ten. It was also fascinating to learn of an Afghanistan that was peaceful, prosperous, and beautiful instead of the war torn battlefield that it is currently.
I love when a book is fiction, but adds enough real history to make me want to learn more about something I was ignorant of before. In this case, it was the hippie overland trail and the interaction of hippies from the west and natives in the middle east that sparked my curiosity.
This was a HEAVY read. I'm not sure I would recommend reading it in winter, during a pandemic because it is such a heavy, heavy read. BUT, it is a story worth telling and beautifully done.