“With clear-eyed recollection and emotional insight, Ahmadi-Miller tells the remarkable tale of one family’s tenacious will to survive.”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
Just finished The Broken Circle: A memoir of escaping Afghanistan by Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller. Non-Fiction. Audio version.
This is the deeply moving story of a family caught in the Russian invasion of Afghanistan during its civil war in the early 1980’s. The family is already divided as the Mother has left Afghanistan and gone to India with her youngest child because of health problems. Also, the marriage has its difficulties as the father has a drinking problem.
As the civil war intensifies Enjeela’s father informs her and her siblings that they must leave Afghanistan and go to be with their mother while he stays back and will join them later. Enjeela is the oldest so she is in charge. The father provides them with money and someone to escort them into Pakistan. He promises to meet up with them in Pakistan, and together they will then go to India.
They are leaving without their passports so they will have to sneak across the borders.
The story, which takes a long time to complete, is fascinating and frightening at the same time. Each small town in Afghanistan is different and maintains its own rules and customs, dangerous even in peaceful times, and when their escort cannot go into Pakistan with them, Enjeela with minimal instructions from her escort, must provide safety and security for her family.
A thrilling story about how love and the belief in the family can get people to accomplish things that would normally seem to be impossible.
Highly recommended.
Reviewed by:
Richard Franco
Added 6th September 2021
