“The Girls from Afghanistan” tells of the meeting between a rug dealer and Azar, an Afghan girl from Herat, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the nineteeneighties. Hossein, the dealer, returns to his country of origin to visitrelatives and buyrugs to sell in Italy, the country he hasresided in since the sixties. On hisarrival he discoversthatrugs are for sale with completely new motifs. He iscuriousabout the descriptions and seeks out theserugs. His inquiries take him to Dogharon, the Iranianrefugee camp on the Afghanborder, wherehundreds of Afghans are sheltering after the Russian invasion. At the camp he meets Arash, the head of the Afghan clan Kuroshi, from Do-Ab, hisyoungdaughter Azar and other girls: the youthful Neda, the weaverOzra, whowill tell the incredible story of Najibe, an eleven-year-oldchildwhowastaken from the presidentialpalace and thrownintoprison. He willpurchase ‘talkingrugs’ from Azar and Ozra, woven with symbols that tell a painful story – theirown and that of the Afghan people. The painstakingtranslationinto English by Katherine Margaret Clifton of the second edition of ‘The Girls from Afghanistan’ hasbeenenriched with maps, photographs and an updatedhistorical timeline. There are alsothreeimportantfinalchapters: a glossary of the Persian terminology (Farsi Dari) used in the book; a timeline of importanthistorical events in Iran and Afghanistan from 1499 to 2015 and ‘a conversation with the author, Hossein Fayaz’. About the Author Hossein Fayaz Torshizi was born in Iran (1943, Kashmar). Since November 1967 he haslived in Italy for study, and hasbeen an Italian citizen from year 1981. He has been married for more than forty years to an Italian and theyhave a daughter and two grandchildren. He hasal sobeen an expert and technical consultant for the Chamber of Commerce and the Court on European and foreignrugs and tapestries since 1981. Hossein Fayaz lives in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy and writes full-time. He is a cosmopolitan writer.