The Honey Thief

Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillman

From the authors of the highly acclaimed bestseller, The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif, The Honey Thief is a compelling and beautifully told superb collection of spell-binding modern fables from Afghanistan that portray a vivid landscape of hardship and brotherhood, catastrophes and miracles, that bring to life the mystery and wonder of that country and its people. Tales of leopards that sing and bees that sneeze; of horseshoe bats in flights that blot out the sun, and of blackbirds that bring golden apples to earth is redolent of our best loved Middle-eastern writers and the magic realism of an Isobel Allende. The sorrow of this extraordinary land is here too, told through the story of the king-killer, Abdul Kaliq, who ends his life on a scaffold in Kabul; and of Majid the Madman who turns to music for solace when his children die of plague. Other tales include that of an aged wolf who proves to a shepherd boy that he is the most intelligent creature on earth; of proud Nadia, courted with a copy of Huckleberry Finn; and of the master poisoner, Nightfall, who creates a cookbook of enchantments. Whether the tale is of beekeepers or kings, The Honey Thief conveys in stories of surprising tenderness the stark beauty of the interwoven lore from a land of bloodshed and brotherhood, of miracles and catastrophes.