The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez
Book Group 2 - September 2017

Sunny and her partner, Tommy, are American and Tommy works away from Kabuldoing secret mercenary work.

Sunny is on her own whilst Tommy is away and so decides to take on running the coffee shop as a project to keep her occupied. The coffee shop building is owned by, Halajan, who is a widow and works at the coffee shop with her son. Foreign men and women, UN workers and Afghans who could afford the prices, frequent the coffee shop.

The story features the staff working at the coffee shop and the customers and this employs a fascination with the mixture of people. The rise of violence and the re-emergence of the Taliban is making the country unsafe for Sunny, her staff and customers at the coffee shop.

Security measures have to increase at the coffee shop and also when Sunny and her staff travel around the country and Kabul. Security is a
huge problem and the coffee shop has to be made more secure.

About The Author
The author Deborah worked in Kabul from 2002 with a disaster relief organisation. Deborah was a hairdresser but she managed to be posted to Afghanistan with the organisation along with doctors and dentists. Deborah visited hairdressing salons and wanted to improve salons so that women could be safe to meet up with other women.
Mostly salons had no running water and very poor conditions. The story is fiction but Deborah did co-own the Cabul Coffee House. Deborah married an Afghan and had a son but had to leave Afghanistan in 2007 for her safety.

Book Group Two enjoyed the book and are going to read other novels written by the author.

Carolyn Nicolau