A Thousand Splendid Suns characters

Appears from the start

An illegitimate girl growing up in a small mud hut outside Herat, Afghanistan, with her bitter, ailing mother. Called a harami, a child born out of wedlock, she is kept hidden from her wealthy father's real family in town, though she idolizes him during his weekly visits. Sheltered, uneducated, and longing for a place in his world, Mariam is on the verge of the reckless wish that will upend her life.

Appears from the start

Mariam's mother, a proud, resentful, and unwell woman who lives in isolation after being cast out for bearing an illegitimate child. Sharp-tongued and fearful of abandonment, she warns Mariam again and again that the world offers a woman like her nothing but endurance.

Appears from the start

Mariam's father, a rich and charming businessman in Herat with a cinema, several wives, and many legitimate children. He visits Mariam once a week with gifts and stories, indulging her affection while keeping her carefully apart from his respectable household.

Appears from the start

The gentle old village Quran tutor who teaches Mariam to read and recite, and who offers her patient kindness and counsel. He is one of the few tender presences in her early life.

Appears from the start

A gruff, heavyset shoemaker from Kabul, decades older than the young Mariam. Traditional and possessive, he expects a wife to be quiet, veiled, and obedient. He can show flashes of consideration at first, but a hard, controlling temper lies close beneath the surface.

First appears in chapter 16

A bright, spirited girl of a younger generation growing up on the same Kabul street, the daughter of an educated, loving father. Encouraged to value learning and to expect more from life than the women before her, she comes of age as war begins to tear the city apart.

First appears in chapter 16

Laila's devoted childhood friend and neighbor, a good-humored boy who lost a leg to a landmine as a child. Fiercely protective of Laila, he becomes her closest companion as the fighting closes in on Kabul.

First appears in chapter 16

Laila's father, a mild, bookish former schoolteacher who believes deeply in education, especially for his daughter. Gentle and thoughtful, he tries to shield his family and to keep hope alive as Kabul slides into chaos.

First appears in chapter 16

Laila's mother, worn down and withdrawn, consumed by pride in and grief over her two sons who have gone off to fight. She is often distant from Laila, lost in worry for the young men at war.

First appears in chapter 30

Laila's first child, a gentle, watchful little girl born amid hardship. She becomes deeply attached to the household's older woman and a focus of the tenderness the two wives come to share.

First appears in chapter 40

Laila's young son, doted on and favored by his father in a way his sister is not. A small boy in a frightening time, he is caught up in the tensions of the household without understanding them.