Mariam 

From an early age, Mariam is taught that because she is female and illegitimate, her life will be difficult. She is known as a harami, and people disrespect her. Mariam’s mother, Nana, had an affair with Jalil, a wealthy man in whose household she was a servant. Jalil has wives and legitimate children, however, so he disowns Mariam and Nana. Mariam is subject to her mother’s resentment and develops a low opinion of herself. She learns from Nana that “she . . . was an illegitimate person who would never have a legitimate claim to . . . love, family, home, acceptance.” This is only compounded when she is rejected by her father after pleading to live with him.

Mariam is forcibly married to a widower named Rasheed whose fundamentalism leads him to abuse Mariam verbally and physically. His mistreatment of her intensifies after she miscarries repeatedly, unable to give him the male heir he prizes. Mariam is crushed by her lost pregnancies, knowing that a child would give her the opportunity to experience love and would offer her some solace in her unhappy marriage. Mariam thinks of motherhood as “one final, cherished province,” where “all the loss, all the grief, all the loneliness and self-abasement of her life washed away.” Tragically, Mariam never gives birth to a biological child, but she does serve as a mother figure to Laila’s daughter Aziza. 

When Rasheed initially makes Laila his second wife, Mariam is hostile toward the other woman, but they ultimately become great allies. Mariam and Laila join forces against Rasheed and toward raising Aziza and then Zalmai. Mariam’s character develops significantly during her relationship with Laila, as seen when she dares to step in and save Laila from a beating that could have left her dead. Instead, she kills Rasheed and hides his body. As she decides to stop Rasheed from killing Laila, Mariam thinks, “this was the first time that she was deciding the course of her own life.” Mariam transforms from a meek, submissive, long-suffering wife to an assertive heroine. She later sacrifices herself to the police to allow Laila and Tariq to escape with the children. As she is about to be executed, Mariam thinks that she has become “a person of consequence at last.” Indeed, her legacy lives on through Laila and Tariq’s child, born after Mariam’s death and named in her honor.

Laila 

Unlike Mariam, Laila is brought up in a progressive household, where her mother has authority and power and her father believes in the value of women’s education. She is even nicknamed “Revolutionary Girl” because she was born the night of the revolution of 1978. When Laila is young, her father tells her, “Marriage can wait, education cannot … a society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated.” While she is encouraged by her father, Laila is increasingly neglected by her mother, as Laila’s brothers are involved in military conflicts. Laila develops a strong relationship with her classmate Tariq, which eventually turns romantic before Tariq flees to safety with his family. Laila soon discovers she is pregnant with Tariq’s child, but then she tragically loses her family in a bombing and is taken in by Mariam and Rasheed. She feels that she must marry Rasheed to mask her pregnancy outside of wedlock.

Laila, despite having been a favorite of Rasheed’s for some time, falls victim to his abuse as well. Unlike Mariam, who simply endures her beatings, Laila fights back because she was never brought up to believe herself inferior. Laila is especially protective of her children. For example, when the family faces poverty during Taliban rule, Rasheed suggests they send Aziza to beg on the street. Not only does Laila refuse, but she also punches Rasheed, despite knowing that she will be physically beaten as a result. When she is forced to send Aziza to live at a children’s shelter where she will be fed, Laila also endures beatings by the Taliban for refusing to stay home; she dares to visit Aziza even though women are not allowed to walk around without a male chaperone.

Late in the novel, Laila is nearly strangled to death by Rasheed and is only saved when Mariam kills her attacker. Laila, however, does not want to see Mariam punished alone for what they both know was a murder of self-defense. Under Taliban law, women are not granted such a right. She begs Mariam to flee with the rest of the family and is devastated but grateful for Mariam’s sacrifice. After the execution, Laila visits the hut where Mariam grew up and reflects that “Mariam is in Laila’s own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.” Laila also plans to memorialize Mariam by naming her next daughter for her lost friend.

Rasheed 

Rasheed is a widower who marries Mariam in a union arranged by Mariam’s father, Jalil. He is chosen for the security he can provide Mariam, an illegitimate child with few options. Early in the relationship, Rasheed is somewhat patient with his young wife, but he grows increasingly domineering and abusive. He believes it is Mariam’s duty to provide him with a son, and when she fails to do so, he violently lashes out at her. He is exceptionally cruel to Mariam, once forcing her to chew pebbles, which break her teeth, to show her what chewing the rice she has cooked feels like to him. When they find and take in Laila after the bombing, Rasheed is at first devoted to her, and Mariam observes “nothing less than a courtship” as Rasheed seeks to “charm” Laila. 

Though Laila claims Aziza is Rasheed’s child, he is suspicious that Laila’s child was fathered by another man. Even after he has a son that he can be sure is his own, Rasheed lashes out at Laila, both verbally and physically. His abuse inadvertently causes the women to bond and join forces against him, resulting in his death. 

Tariq 

Tariq is Laila’s friend and romantic partner in Kabul. They are constant presences in each other’s houses and part of each other’s families. As a young boy, Tariq has to have part of his leg amputated after a landmine explosion, but he is resilient and active nonetheless. He also plays an important role in his immediate family; as the only child, he helps care for his parents, especially after his father’s strokes. This is what leads his family to flee Kabul when the bombings and fighting ramp up, and separates him from Laila. Before his family goes to Pakistan and he breaks the news to Laila, she is “furious with him for abandoning her, Tariq, who was like an extension of her.” Before he leaves, the two end up sleeping together and conceiving Aziza. 

After Laila is married to Rasheed, a man shows up to tell Laila that Tariq has been killed in Peshawar. Laila goes on believing that her beloved is gone and cherishes her only connection to him, through Aziza, but years later, he turns up at the family’s house. They begin to hatch a plan to get Laila and the children away from Rasheed. After Rasheed is killed, Tariq and Laila escape to Peshawar and start a new life with the children. Like Laila, however, Tariq feels a connection to his homeland and supports her decision to return home to Kabul by the novel’s end. Tariq serves as a foil to Rasheed; he is enlightened, kind, and respectful of Laila. Though both he and Laila have been traumatized and changed by their experiences, they also can share and expect each other’s support. At the end of the novel, Tariq listens to Laila talk about Mariam and “holds her in his arms.”