My Dear Kabul: Twenty-one Afghan women. Twelve months. One group chat

'A hugely important book... I want everyone to read it, share it, discuss it, support it' BERNARDINE EVARISTO'An immensely powerful communal testament. Its courage is momentous' ALI SMITH'A unique chronicle of the everyday and the earth shattering' LYSE DOUCET'Tender, devastating narratives from some of the bravest women of our times' MOHAMMED HANIFIn August 2021, as the Taliban approached the gates of Kabul, twenty-one women writers in Afghanistan came online in their WhatsApp chat group: they asked what news others had heard and if everyone was safe.These women had been brought together as a writing group. They were about to publish their first collection of short stories, while working regular day jobs. Some were students, some newly married, one was a grandmother: all were afraid of what was now to come. Over the next year, in the makeshift refuge of their WhatsApp group, they shared the day-to-day reality of life after a fall.My Dear Kabul is their collective diary: in it the writers watch cities transform, schools close, families change and freedoms disappear. They share stories of chaos, protest and flight - and of life continuing. Check-points are a daily trial; men start behaving differently. Children can't afford the ice-cream man's wares; passports are near impossible to obtain. Together, their messages form a powerful chorus of resistance and solidarity.