<P> Hosseini disclosed that in some ways, A Thousand Splendid Suns was more difficult to write than his first novel, The Kite Runner . This is partly because when he penned The Kite Runner, "no one was waiting for it ." He also found his second novel to be more "ambitious" than the first due to its larger number of characters, its dual focus on Mariam and Laila, and its covering of a multi-generational - period of nearly forty - five - years . However, he stated, "As I began to write, as the story picked up pace and I found myself immersed in the world of Mariam and Laila, these apprehensions vanished on their own . The developing story captured me and enabled me to tune out the background noise and get on with the business of inhabiting the world I was creating ." The characters "took on a life of their own" at this point and "became very real for (him)". </P> <P> Similar to The Kite Runner, the manuscript had to be extensively revised; Hosseini divulged that he ultimately wrote the book five times before it was complete . The novel's anticipated release was first announced in October 2006, when it was described as a story about "family, friendship, faith and the salvation to be found in love". </P> <P> The novel centers on two women, Mariam and Laila, how their lives become intertwined after a series of drastic events, and their subsequent friendship and support for each other in the backdrop of Kabul in the 20th and 21st century . It is split into four parts that focus on individual stories: Part one is about Mariam, part two is on Laila, part three is on the relationship between the two women, and Laila's life with Tariq is in part four . The last section also happens to be the only part written in the present tense . </P> <P> Mariam lives in a kolba on the outskirts of Herat with her embittered mother . Jalil, her father, is a wealthy businessman who owns a cinema and lives in the town with three wives and nine children . Mariam is his illegitimate daughter, and she is prohibited to live with them, but Jalil visits her every Thursday . On her fifteenth birthday, Mariam wants her father to take her to see Pinocchio at his movie theater, against the pleas of her mother . When he does not show up, she hikes into town and goes to his house . He refuses to see her, and she ends up sleeping on the street . In the morning, Mariam returns home to find that her mother has committed suicide out of fear that her daughter had deserted her . Mariam is then taken to live in her father's house . Jalil arranges for her to be married to Rasheed, a shoemaker from Kabul who is thirty - years her senior . In Kabul, Mariam becomes pregnant seven successive times, but is never able to carry a child to term . This is a sad, disquieting reality for both Rasheed and Mariam . Ultimately Rasheed grows more and more despondent over his wife's inability to have a child and particularly a son . As their marriage wears on Rasheed gradually becomes more and more abusive . </P>

Where does a thousand splendid suns take place