Who's it by?Asne Seierstad is a Norwegian journalist whose career skyrocketed after she spent five months in 2001 living with an Afghan family in Kabul- Her account of this time was published in 26 languages as The Bookseller of Kabul which shifted more copies than any other work of non-fiction by a Norwegian. Ever.
Unfortunately, Newton's theory of action and reaction imposed itself with a vengeance - the fallout following the book's publication was almost as messy as the fallout from the war it described. Shah Muhammad Rais, the bookseller of the title, flew to Norway where he took Seierstad to court for defamation- He accused her of portraying him as a sexist bigot and declared the book an insult to the people of Afghanistan- Questions began to be asked about the veracity of Seierstad's reporting- How had she had accurately transcribed lengthy conversations in Dari, a language she apparently did not understand?
Seierstad, who stuck to her guns admirably throughout the affair, must be rich enough never to have to work again- She may then have produced this most recent book as a rejoinder to her critics. But it is hard to imagine that is the sole reason for her choosing to go undercover in a dangerous region dominated by one of the nastiest despotic regimes on the planet. She speaks fluent Russian - if not Chechen - and seems to have a personal commitment to reporting on this forgotten warzone. Having begun her career reporting on the first Chechen war, this hugely successful author apparently felt it was time to go back.
