Under the Persimmon Tree - by: Suzanne Fisher Staples

Intertwined portraits of courage and hope in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Najmah, a young Afghan girl whose name means “star,” suddenly finds herself alone when her father and older brother are conscripted by the Taliban and her mother and newborn brother are killed in an air raid. An American woman, Elaine, whose Islamic name is Nusrat, is also on her own. She waits out the war in Peshawar, Pakistan, teaching refugee children under the persimmon tree in her garden while her Afghan doctor husband runs a clinic in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.

Najmah’s father had always assured her that the stars would take care of her, just as Nusrat’s husband had promised that they would tell Nusrat where he was and that he was safe. As the two look to the skies for answers, their fates entwine. Najmah, seeking refuge and hoping to find her father and brother, begins the perilous journey through the mountains to cross the border into Pakistan. And Nusrat’s persimmon-tree school awaits Najmah’s arrival. Together, they both seek their way home.

Known for her award-winning fiction set in South Asia, Suzanne Fisher Staples revisits that part of the world in this beautifully written, heartrending novel.

Najmah, a young Afghan girl whose name means "star," and Elaine, an American woman whose Islamic name is Nusrat, are both waiting for deliverance. Najmah's mother and brother were killed in air raids during the Soviet-Afghan War; her father and older brother have been conscripted by the Taliban, leaving her desperate and seeking refuge. Meanwhile, Nusrat is "safe" in Peshawar, Pakistan; but she too is waiting for news that in this war-torn region may never come. Eventually, the paths of these two bereft women converge under a persimmon tree.

Najmah, a young Afghan girl whose name means "star," suddenly finds herself alone when her father and older brother are conscripted by the Taliban and her mother and newborn brother are killed in an air raid. An American woman, Elaine, whose Islamic name is Nusrat, is also on her own. She waits out the war in Peshawar, Pakistan, teaching refugee children under the persimmon tree in her garden while her Afghan doctor husband runs a clinic in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.

Najmah's father had always assured her that the stars would take care of her, just as Nusrat's husband had promised that they would tell Nusrat where he was and that he was safe. As the two look to the skies for answers, their fates entwine. Najmah, seeking refuge and hoping to find her father and brother, begins the perilous journey through the mountains to cross the border into Pakistan. And Nusrat's persimmon-tree school awaits Najmah's arrival. Together, they both seek their way home.

Known for her award-winning fiction set in South Asia, Suzanne Fisher Staples revisits that part of the world in this beautifully written, heartrending novel.

Having already shown a profound understanding of Middle-Eastern culture in books such as Shabanu and Shiva's Fire, Staples offers readers a new level of insight in this timely portrayal of Afghanistan in the months following September 11. Here, the author alternately expresses the views of two survivors: young Najmah, a villager living in the Kunduz Hills, and Nusrat, the American wife of an Afghan doctor. After her mother and newborn brother are killed by a bomb, Najmah travels with neighbors headed for the Pakistan border. Disguised as a boy, Najmah endures a harrowing journey to the edge of Afghanistan, where she parts from her companions to cross the border on her own, determined to find her father and older brother, who have been conscripted by the Taliban army. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, Nusrat anxiously awaits news of her husband, who left home to run a clinic for war victims. The paths of the two protagonists cross when Najmah is brought to Nusrat's school for refugees (which is held under a persimmon tree). Sharing a deep sense of loss, anxiety for their loved ones' safety and a passionate interest in the stars, Najmah and Nusrat give each other strength to face an uncertain future. The author fills in tangible details of day-to-day life in a strife-ridden land. While avoiding political commentary, Staples powerfully and honestly expresses the plight of a civilization caught between terrorists and American bombs. Ages 12-up. (Aug.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Najmah, ("Star") is a young Afghanistan girl who lives happily on a small farm with her father, mother, brother, and a newborn brother. Her father fends off a politically-savvy, opium-growing uncle who would steal their farm away if he could. Everything changes when Najmah's father and brother are conscripted by the Taliban, and her mother and new brother are killed by a bomb. Najmah deserts the farm she loves and flees to Peshawar, Pakistan. There she meets the second main character, Nusrat, a former American turned Muslim because of her gentle Afghan husband. Nusrat waits for him beneath the stars he promised would care for her as he runs a clinic in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. She teaches refugee children in Peshawar. Staples describes these characters and their lives so well in her alternating chapters that we see them coming closer together. We see their link with a fondness for stars, their love of missing dear ones, and the fear and waiting which surround them. Staples, returning after many years to the settings she learned well as a UPI correspondent, offers truth, not prettiness, in her ending, and in her characters who speak for thousands who had their lives undone. 2005, Farrar, Ages 11 up.

Staples, who has lived and worked in Afghanistan and Pakistan, makes the recent war horrifyingly clear in this YA novel. She has two main characters: a young Afghan girl named Najmah whose father and older brother have been kidnapped by the Taliban and forced to fight; and an American woman, Nusrat, who has formed a school for refugee children in Peshawar as she waits for word from her husband, who is working in a field hospital in a war zone in Afghanistan. The two meet when Najmah, disguised as a boy, makes the journey to Peshawar from her village in search of her father and brother when the Taliban are forced to retreat. Staples gives us an accounting of how Nusrat met her husband in New York City, converted to Islam, changed her name from Elaine, and was warmly accepted into her husband's family. We also learn how Najmah lives in her village, shepherds her family's animals, is wary of her greedy uncle. The story of these two, Najmah and Nusrat, is filled with terror and drama. When we read about them, we understand what so many have suffered and are still suffering in Afghanistan. Through the story of Nusrat, the modern American woman who chooses to convert to Islam, Staples gives her readers an understanding of the appeal of this religion. In Nusrat's character, Staples explains why foreigners are willing to go to Afghanistan to risk their lives to help a desperate people. The plight of Najmah's father and brother echoes stories we read about detainees held by the Americans who were at the wrong place at the wrong time—they are hardly terrorists. And the deaths of Najmah's mother and infant brother in their little village represent those of thousands of others who have beenkilled by bombs falling without warning out of the sky. As Staples says at the end of this novel: "There are few happy endings in Afghanistan these days." She doesn't soften this work by providing an unrealistic happy ending. This is a powerful story that helps us understand the complexities of life in that part of the world. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2005, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 275p., Ages 12 to 18.

Gr 5-8-When her father and brother are taken by the Taliban and her mother and baby brother are killed in a bombing raid during the Afghan war in October 2001, Najmah begins an arduous journey across the border to Peshawar, Pakistan. There, she meets up with an American woman, Nusrat, who has been conducting a school for refugee children while she waits for her husband, Faiz, who has returned to his native country to open medical clinics. For most of the story, the narration alternates between Najmah and Nusrat, allowing readers to see the war's effect on both of their lives. Only when they meet can they come to terms with their losses and move on. However, readers may feel unsatisfied with the ending. Having cared for the characters and been involved in their lives, they will want to know what happens to them. The use of an American allows the author to provide a clearer description of this unfamiliar world, but because Nusrat is a grown woman, her concerns may be of less interest to readers than those of Najmah, an enterprising and enormously courageous girl. Still, Staples brings the world of the refugee camp to life. Middle grade readers and the adults who teach them will welcome this fascinating glimpse into a world about which far too little has been written.-Kathleen Isaacs, formerly at Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Time: one month after September 11, 2001. Place: Northern Afghanistan. Enter 12-year-old Najmah, abandoned when her father and brother are taken away at gunpoint to fight for the Taliban and, soon after, her mother and baby brother die in an air attack. Then, enter Nusrat, a fair-haired New Yorker who has been living and teaching in Pakistan's Peshawar since her husband Faiz decided to work for an Afghan clinic. Through shifting points of view in alternating sections, readers learn about young Najmah's dangerous journey to a refugee camp, and of Nusrat's nagging worry about her husband from whom she's not heard in far too long. Najmah and Nusrat's stories collide when Najmah makes her way to Peshawar in search of her family and is taken to Nusrat, the American who teaches refugees under a persimmon tree. Together, they yearn for lost loved ones, discuss the nature of the stars they both adore and follow their hearts the best they can. Staples brings beautiful, war-torn Afghanistan closer in this affecting, eye-opening novel. (map, author's note, glossary) (Fiction. 12+)