The Gardener of Lashkar Gah
The Afghans Who Risked Everything to Fight the Taliban
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to Wish List failed.
Please try again later
Remove from Wish List failed.
Please try again later
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Buy Now for $21.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.
-
Narrated by:
-
Olivia Dowd
-
By:
-
Larisa Brown
About this listen
"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
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’.©2023 Larisa Brown (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Critic Reviews
'[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' (John Simpson)
'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)
What listeners say about The Gardener of Lashkar Gah
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.