After hard luck and heartbreak, Sunny finally finds a place to call home—in the middle of an Afghanistan war zone. There, the thirty-eight-year-old serves up her American hospitality to the expats who patronize her coffee shop, including a British journalist, a “danger pay” consultant, and a wealthy and well-connected woman. True to her name, Sunny also bonds with people whose language and landscape are unfamiliar to most Westerners, but whose hearts and souls are very much like our own: the maternal Halajan, who vividly recalls the days before the Taliban and now must hide a modern romance from her ultratraditional son; and Yazmina, a young Afghan villager with a secret that could put everyone’s life in jeopardy. In this gorgeous first novel, New York Times bestselling author Deborah Rodriguez paints a stirring portrait of a faraway place where—even in the fog of political and social conflict—friendship, passion, and hope still exist.
Originally published as A Cup of Friendship
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Sexual Content - 1/5
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Violence - 2/5
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Language - 1/5
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Drugs and Alcohol - 2/5
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Summary
In A Cup of Friendship, Deborah Rodriquez takes us to war torn Kabul where protagonist Sunny, a woman from Arkansas, runs a coffee shop popular with other expats. They are brought to Kabul for different reasons: fundraising, reporting, consulting, fighting. Although, as Rodriquez makes clear, none are there because they really want to help he Afghan people. The characters followed economic, professionalor romantic opportunities that led them to Kabul. It is because of their friendship, and their exposure to locals in the coffee shop, that they find ways to have a positive impact in ways that people actually want. There are several romances during the book. All are predictable, but still entertaining. The Westerners found it easy to cast judgement on the religious conservatives, yet several women end up in precarious relationships there the men clearly maintained control. A Cup of Friendship gives us the some of the horrors of war and social injustice, but with a soft touch. It’s easy to read and was a happy ending, but the
realities of life for women in that country stick with you.
Violence The author is writing about a war torn country. Details of violence against women is described, but not in great detail.