THE OPIUM PRINCE

A young American diplomat comes face to face with the turmoil of Afghan society and the anguish of its people in this debut novel by a half-Afghan, half-Swedish writer.

While driving from Kabul to Herat with his wife, Rebecca, sometime in the late 1970s, Daniel Abdullah Sajadi hits and kills a little girl named Telaya. Daniel—whose mother is American and late father was an Afghan War hero—is the new director of a U.S. foreign aid agency, charged with fostering food production and wiping out the poppy fields that fuel the country’s dangerous drug trade. Local guide Taj Maleki comes to his aid, taking him to the police to report the accident and to tribal leaders and Telaya’s parents, to whom he makes payments. At length Daniel realizes that Taj is not a simple jobber but an opium khan. After a contentious discussion, Daniel, infuriated by Taj’s argument that opium keeps many Afghans out of poverty, kicks him out of his car. Over the next several months, guilt, recriminations, and persistent nightmares about Telaya plague Daniel. Taj stays in touch by means of oblique threats. Then Taj crashes a dinner party with Daniel’s mentor and other influencers in attendance and charms some of the guests. What begins as a thriller evolves into a detailed history of the region’s traumas and a less-successful emotional and personal odyssey. As the country descends into war, Daniel’s safety becomes a major concern. Peppered throughout the tale are a series of short, haunting fables, presented as children’s stories but disclosing the brutal reality of Afghan life.

An ambitious debut defying easy categorization.