" I became what I am today at the age of twelve, one frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near a frozen creek.  That was long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it.  Because it claws its way out.  Looking back now, I realise I have been peeking into that  deserted alley for the last twenty-six years."

Thus begins this exquisite and beautiful first novel.  We are led straight into the scene set out so cleverly on the cover of the book.  Drawn into the alley with Amir, and along with him across two continents, and as many decades, as his tale unfolds.  We witness the moment in which his friendship with Hassan is rent apart in the back streets of Kabul.  We feel his struggle to contain a guilt that is only exorcised when he returns to meet his nemesis, and discover the seeds of his redemption. 

This is an amazing book with a historic sweep, matched by real sensitivity, truth, and humanity. We had our doubts when Craig chose this, but now it's one of those books that has gone straight onto the shelf marked:  Brilliant! Do not Swap, Keep for ever, and Read again.'