Rukhsana is a young woman reporter living in Kabul Afghanistan under Taliban rule. One day she gets called in to appear in front of the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice along with other reporters. The reporters are told that they will have to write an article telling everyone that Afghanistan will now have teams that play cricket. The Taliban's aim is to be respected by the world by the simple fact that they have a cricket team, that they can play by the rules. They tell the reporters that there will be a tournament and that the winners will be able to go to Pakistan to be further trained.
Rukhsana finds out that the Minister wants to marry her even if she was promised to someone else, The minister Zorah Wahidi has the reputation of being violent, cruel and with no conscience. She does not want to marry him and is very much afraid of him. Nonetheless, she is very knowledgeable of cricket and decides to teach her male cousins and her brother cricket in the hope that they can be good enough to win the tournament and escape Afghanistan. She also believes she can make it out with the help of the man she was promised to that no longer lives in the country.
The books describes what it is like to be a woman living under Taliban rule, to not be able to leave your house without a male relative, to be hidden under a burka where the only thing showing is your eyes, A woman alone outside without a man, she could be send to prison or killed. Life for a man, under Taliban rule can be just as dangerous. He is responsible for the women in his household. He is responsible for anything the woman may do or have done that the Taliban precieves as wrong. He can be send to prison or executed on the spot. There is no court or rule of law.
It is a good book that expresses the love of man and family. The books was a little bit slow to read but good nonetheless.