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For the Love of a Son

One Afghan Woman's Quest for Her Stolen Child

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For the Love of a Son

Written by: Jean Sasson
Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
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About this listen

From the time she was a little girl, Maryam rebelled against the terrible second-class existence that was her destiny as an Afghan woman. She had witnessed the miserable fate of her grandmother and three aunts, and wished she had been born a boy. As a feisty teenager in Kabul, she was outraged when the Russians invaded her country. After she made a public show of defiance, she had to flee the country for her life. A new life of freedom seemed within her grasp, but her father arranged a traditional marriage to a fellow Afghan, who turned out to be a violent man. Beaten, raped, and abused, Maryam found joy in the birth of a baby son. But then her brutal husband stole him away far beyond his mother's reach. For many long years she searched for her lost son, while civil war and Taliban oppression raged back home in Afghanistan.

Set against a landscape littered with tragic tales of horrific suffering, Jean Sasson, author of Princess, chronicles the story of one resolute but tormented woman determined to achieve freedom and equality with men.

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For the Love of a Son by Jean Sasson is a deeply moving account of an Afghan woman’s life shaped by war, patriarchy, and an unbreakable bond with her child. Through Maryam Khail’s true story, the book traces her journey from a constrained girlhood to a forced marriage, and ultimately to the devastating loss of her son. Sasson presents this not as distant reportage, but as an intimate human narrative, allowing the reader to feel the emotional weight of each choice, injustice, and sacrifice.

What makes the book linger is its portrayal of maternal love as an act of resistance. Maryam’s determination to find her son becomes a quiet but powerful rebellion against cultural norms and political chaos. While the prose is simple and direct, the story itself is haunting and illuminating, offering insight into the lived realities of Afghan women beyond headlines and statistics.

For the Love of a Son is not an easy read, but it is a necessary one, leaving the reader with empathy, anger, and deep respect for a mother’s courage.

Heart Touching

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