Redemption Song

The stage adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling tale of family, betrayal and forgiveness, The Kite Runner, makes its Middle Eastern debut at Dubai Opera this month

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It spent more than two years on the New York Times’ bestseller list and has sold more than 31 million copies globally, has been translated into 42 languages and been turned into a blockbuster Hollywood movie, so there’s little doubt that Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel, The Kite Runner, warrants contention as a modern-day literary phenomenon.

At once a father-son story, a crossborder coming-of-age tale, and a fictional look at one family’s experience of migration following the Soviet Union’s military intervention in Afghanistan in 1979, Hosseini’s novel follows brothers Amir and Hassan from their childhood in Kabul through to adulthood, taking in life in Pakistan, the US, and the Middle East along the way. It is, however, the repercussions of a childhood betrayal during a popular kite running tournament that sit at the heart of the novel and, having struck an emotional chord with millions of readers since its publication in 2003, it’s now set to make its Middle Eastern stage debut, with Dubai Opera preparing to welcome the play this month.