The Gardener of Lashkar Gah

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents The Gardener of Lashkar Gah by Larisa Brown, read by Olivia Dowd.

"Beautifully researched and deeply moving, [this book] brought me to tears more than once" — John Simpson, The Guardian

"First-class...exhaustively researched and sensitively written" — The Times

From the journalist who investigated the shocking 2022 Afghan data breach, the extraordinary true story of the Afghans who risked their lives for us.

The sudden withdrawal of British and American troops from Afghanistan in 2021, ended the 20 year war on terror, yet it also left Afghanistan to be reconquered by the Taliban. As violence and religious fundamentalism once again overwhelmed the region, thousands of Afghans who loyally served the British and American armies were left behind.

This is the story of what happened to them when the West left.

The Gardener of Lashkar Gah follows the extraordinary journey of Shaista Gul, a kind former-policeman who built a beautiful garden inside a military base in Helmand Province that became famous as a calm oasis for soldiers with troubled minds. Other members of his family worked for the allies, including his son Jamal, who became an interpreter for the British Army when he was just a teenager. Following the chaotic withdrawal of allied troops, a suicide bombing at Kabul airport and a desperate scramble to re-unite loved ones and evacuate the region, all members of the family suffered.

Larisa Brown – Defence Editor for The Times, award-winning journalist and a campaigner for the interpreters of Afghanistan – has spent hundreds of hours talking to members of the Gul family and others across the region in order to tell their remarkable stories. In heart-warming and beautifully human prose, she unspools a tale of courage, hope and sacrifice – with the beauty of the garden and the hopes and dreams of the family counterpointed against the violence, anger and chaos raging in Afghanistan at the time.

The scandalous betrayal of many of the interpreters and others who worked for the British and American armies is still being revealed. By telling one family’s bittersweet experience – The Gardener of Lashkar Gah provides a unique and powerful insight into the devastating effects on ordinary Afghans of the end of the ‘War on Terror’.

Critics Review

'[Larisa Brown's] account of what happened to one particular family – the father, who used to tend the gardens in a British compound at Lashkar Gah base, his son who worked with British soldiers as an interpreter, and the rest of their relatives – is beautifully researched and deeply moving, her account brought me to tears more than once...an important story'
The Guardian
'Exhaustively researched and sensitively written, The Gardener of Lashkar Gah is a first-class account of one family's struggle to survive the West's ill-fated and ultimately futile war in Afghanistan.'
The Times
Larisa Brown's storytelling is vivid and compelling, painting a powerful picture of the tragic plight of our Afghan allies. It is an essential story that will define the memory of British involvement in Afghanistan for generations to come.
Levison Wood, explorer and author of Escape from Kabul
“A brilliant, compelling book that chronicles the human stories behind military intervention in the Middle East and gives the heroes among the Afghan interpreters and other local partners of Western forces the place in history they deserve. A major addition to the history of our operations in the shadow of the Hindu Kush.”
General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, and former Director of the CIA
Sitting in the garden in Lash was one of the few places life felt almost normal in Helmand. The roses brought humanity to a harsh environment and a moment of peace in a brutal war. The family who made that space went mostly unnoticed to the soldiers who needed the oasis. Larisa has brought them to the fore and told a story that speaks of so many who served alongside us and who were left homeless by the withdrawal. This is a beautiful book which reminded me of the pain and hope we shared, and the courage and humanity of those we served alongside. In the years gone by I often wondered what happened to that garden and those who tended it. So much we left behind has been lost and trampled, knowing this family’s struggles speaks of so many unknowns and unnamed.
Tom Tugendhat, former officer, former chair of the foreign affairs select committee and current Minister for Security
In the best tradition of intelligent campaigning journalism, with sympathy and insight, Larisa Brown tells the story of one Afghan interpreter and his family abandoned by the British – how many more are there? She exposes the hypocrisy of successive governments that made promises to brave Afghans only to abandon them.
Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor Channel 4 News, author of In Extremis
From gardens and guns on Afghan front lines to desks of major powers, this book reveals what it’s like to live and die in war. A journalist’s eye and an advocate’s empathy illuminates the steep price paid by Afghans who sided with Britain.
Lyse Doucet, the BBC's Chief International Correspondent
A moving book [...] ably depicts the plight of those who opposed a brutal regime alongside Western forces and still await reprieve.
Kirkus Reviews

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