And the Mountains Echoed is a bland, almost corporate flavour to the title of Khaled Hosseini's third book, suggesting a large but windy Afghan epic. Its narrative wares are clearly advertised in the book-jacket blurb to reassure his tens of millions of worldwide readers that they will be getting the brand they want. This effectively marketed product informs its consumers that, as there was in The Kite Runner, here there will also be siblings separated by hardship and tragedy. There will be nostalgia for old Afghanistan, ironised by its clashes with western freedoms and shattered by modern wars; there will be leaps in time, speaking of the cruel tricks of history through wildly emotive tales of loss, betrayal and redemption.

I just read an amazing review of "And the Mountains Echoed", the new novel by Khaled Hosseini. If you liked his "The Kite Runner", you might like this even better.