{"title":"Veronica Doubleday","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the enchanting world of Veronica Doubleday, where myth and folklore intertwine with captivating storytelling. Perfect for readers seeking tales of magic, history, and timeless adventure. Start your journey here.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"three-women-of-herat-book-veronica-doubleday-9781780601977","title":"Three Women of Herat","description":"In 1973, the Afghans still had a King who ruled from a palace in Kabul with his own resident court of musicians when Veronica set up home in Herat.   This Afghan city sat close to the Persian frontier and was fully cognisant of its glorious history as the capital of a once vast Central Asian Empire. Veronica was not a casual traveler but a young musician married to a scholar. She was determined to make use of her time in Afghanistan and break out of the charmed circle of the expatriate academic and make real friendships with local women. The tentative story, the growth in these very different friendships, takes the reader into a rare, deep, and privileged insight into the hidden world of Afghan female society. This is more than enough to make this book remarkable, but it has an afterlife of its own. For a Communist coup, then the Russian invasion, a long guerrilla war of Resistance is followed by Civil War and the rise of the Taliban. Veronica was separated from her friends: feared the worst, sought to assist but was also aware that contact from a westerner could be lethal to them. Then a fragile peace allowed her to meet them again and pick up their stories. It is a most exceptional work, which reads like a novel.     'I was fascinated by this story of ordinary life before the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. The three women are remarkable and unforgettable, and the story of how the author gained their friendship is like a novel.'  Doris Lessing  'Three Women of Herat is a sensitive, knowledgeable and very moving account of an annihilated civilisation.' The Sunday Times  'Her understanding of 'purdah' is certainly the most illuminating by any Western writer for a long time. It is in describing the rituals of the day-to-day life of these women that the author excels, all are minutely depicted with a ravishing eye for detail.'  Ahmed Rashid","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49513403187473,"sku":"GOR012452501","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49742596636945,"sku":"NGR9781780601977","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52888653725969,"sku":"GOR014653377","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53363001557265,"sku":"NIN9781780601977","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1780601972.jpg?v=1750801408"},{"product_id":"three-women-of-herat-book-veronica-doubleday-9781845110260","title":"Three Women of Herat","description":"In the years before the communist coup and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Veronica Doubleday set up home in the ancient city of Herat. At first, her only glimpses of women were as shadows - faceless and voiceless. Gradually, however, she began to meet them in the seclusion of their homes. She formed particular friendships with three young mothers who welcomed her into their lives, teaching her their customs and music and sharing the details of their everyday existence. She witnessed their most personal moments: the births and deaths of their children, their marriages and celebrations, religious holidays, healings, and rituals. In 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. The country Doubleday had come to love changed irreparably and for some years she lost all contact with her friends. Incredibly, during a recent visit to Herat, she met many of them again. This is a remarkable story and a poignant record of life in an Afghanistan that no longer exists.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49582793130257,"sku":"GOR003998471","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50630325534993,"sku":"CIN1845110269G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52491551801617,"sku":"GOR004391885","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53154793652497,"sku":"GOR008523288","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1845110269.jpg?v=1751186091"},{"product_id":"three-women-of-herat-book-veronica-doubleday-9780224024402","title":"Three Women of Herat","description":"Veronica Doubleday first went to Afghanistan in the mid-1970s (the last year before the Soviet invasion) with her husband who was researching Central Asian music. Picturesque, mountainous and underdeveloped, this mysterious land was emerging from its obscure past but retained a traditional Islamic way of life all of its own. They made their home in Herat, an ancient city on the traditional crossroads between Iran, the northern steppes and the Indian sub-continent. Intrigued by fleeting glimpses of women swathed from head to foot in the burqa like 'dark, wingless, sightless bird', the author eventually adopted the veil and took the daunting step across the threshold of the segregated world of purdah. To her surprise, she found that the women were by no means meekly submissive or unaware of their situation. They took great delight in each other's company and were able to exert a good deal of influence on their menfolk through the management of family affairs and their socially important role of marriage-arranging. This book is a touching and perceptive account of the very special friendships which the author formed with three young mothers who welcomed her into their homes, sharing their daily lives and preoccupations, and teaching her their custom, songs and music. Mariam, charming, intelligent and with a happy, trusting marriage, gladly conformed to her traditional role as female head of a large extended family. Mother of Nebi, trapped in a restrictive marriage, ascribed her severe depression to 'madness' caused by jinns, and channeled her frustrated energies into divination through spirit possession. Shirin enjoyed unusual independence as a famous singer from a class of professional musicians despised as near-prostitutes because they uncovered their faces to perform in mixed company. Gradually the author came to respect the women's warmth and the strength of their faith in Islam, and to appreciate the luxury of female privacy from men, the unhurried security of their lives and the curious seductiveness of being 'invisible'. Since her last visit to Herat, the city has been badly damaged by Soviet bombs. Veronica Doubleday fears that her friends must have suffered terribly and that she will never see them again. In a moving epilogue she describes her visit to refugee families in Peshwar near the border with Pakistan, where women, cut off from homeland and kin, suffer intense physical and emotional deprivation in strictly enforced purdah. Three Women of Herat is both a unique historical record of a disappearing culture and an elegant testament to the women who gave her the rare gift of true friendship.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49597073490193,"sku":"GOR002225240","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49641986228497,"sku":"GOR002949954","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50262595993873,"sku":"GOR002600113","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/022402440X.jpg?v=1751227483"},{"product_id":"three-women-of-herat-book-veronica-doubleday-9780292781122","title":"Three Women of Herat","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50347763597585,"sku":"CIN0292781121G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0292781121.jpg?v=1751195795"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-veronica-doubleday.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}