Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

$0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell cover art

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell

By: Nadia Hashimi
Narrated by: Mozhan Navabi
Pre-order: Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Pre-order Now for £12.99

Pre-order Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
activate_primeday_promo_in_buybox_DT

Listeners also enjoyed...

When the Moon Is Low cover art
Sparks Like Stars cover art
A Cup of Friendship cover art
A Harvest of Thorns cover art
One Half from the East cover art
Take What You Can Carry cover art
In the Company of Strangers cover art
The Spice Maker's Secret cover art
October in the Earth cover art
The Secret Diary of an Arranged Marriage cover art
Mother Country cover art
The Blue Between Sky and Water cover art
The Exile and the Mapmaker cover art
The Mountains Sing cover art
Northern Boy cover art
The Girl at the Back of the Bus cover art

Summary

Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi's literary debut novel is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.

In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. As a son, she can attend school, go to the market, and chaperone her older sisters.

But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-great grandmother, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way.

Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl the Broke Its Shell interweaves the tales of these two women separated by a century who share similar destinies. But what will happen once Rahima is of marriageable age? Will Shekiba always live as a man? And if Rahima cannot adapt to life as a bride, how will she survive?

©2014 Nadia Hashimi (P)2024 William Morrow Paperbacks

What listeners say about The Pearl That Broke Its Shell

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.