Qais Akbar Omar was born in Kabul in a time of relative peace. Until he was 7, he lived with his well-to-do parents in the spacious, garden-filled compound his grandfather had built. Noisy with the laughter of his cousins, home was the idyllic centre of their quiet, comfortable life. But in the wake of the Russian withdrawal and the bloody civil conflict that erupted, his family was forced to flee and take refuge in the legendary Fort of Nine Towers, a centuries-old palace in the hills on the far side of Kabul. On a perilous trip home, Omar and his father were kidnapped, narrowly escaping, and the family fled again, his parents leading their six children on a remarkable, sometimes wondrous journey. 2013.