Dancing in the Mosque

A moving memoir about one mother’s unimaginable choice in the face of oppression and abuse in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

A People Book of the Week

A Kirkus Best Nonfiction of the Year

“A modern-day Sophie's Choice, this memoir about a mother’s love for her child and country is heartbreaking, but also triumphantly hopeful and inspiring.” —Thrity Umrigar, bestselling author of The Secrets Between Us

In the days before Homeira Qaderi gave birth to her son, Siawash, the road to the hospital in Kabul would often be barricaded because of the frequent suicide explosions. With the city and the military on edge, it was not uncommon for an armed soldier to point his gun at the pregnant woman’s bulging stomach, terrified that she was hiding a bomb. Propelled by the love she held for her soon-to-be-born child, Homeira walked through blood and wreckage to reach the hospital doors. But the joy of her beautiful son’s birth was soon overshadowed by other dangers that would threaten her life.

No ordinary Afghan woman, Homeira refused to cower under the strictures of a misogynistic social order. Defying the law, at the age of thirteen, she risked her freedom to teach children reading and writing and fought for women’s rights in her theocratic and patriarchal society.

Devastating in its power, Dancing in the Mosque is a mother’s searing letter to the son she was forced to leave behind. In telling her story—and that of Afghan women—Homeira challenges us to reconsider the meaning of motherhood, sacrifice, and survival.

“A stunning reminder that stories and words are what sustain us, even—and perhaps especially—under the most frightening circumstances.” —New York Times

“An unvarnished, memorable portrayal of a mother’s grief and love.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“One of the most moving love letters to life itself that you will ever read.” —Meg Waite Clayton, author of The Last Train to London