Q 01/05

What does Abdullah help his little sister Pari collect, treasures that she stores in a box?

A) Seashells

B) Feathers

C) Buttons

D) Marbles

Answer · why

B) Feathers

Feathers are Pari's passion, and Abdullah guards her box of them for decades after she is taken from him.

Q 02/05

Which debut novel made Khaled Hosseini famous ten years before And the Mountains Echoed appeared?

A) The Kite Runner

B) A Thousand Splendid Suns

C) The Swallows of Kabul

D) The Bookseller of Kabul

Answer · why

A) The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner spent 101 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and its success let Hosseini give up his day job to write.

Q 03/05

To which European capital does Nila Wahdati move in the 1950s, taking her adopted child with her?

A) Rome

B) Vienna

C) Paris

D) Madrid

Answer · why

C) Paris

Paris is where Nila, whose own mother was French, raises Pari to believe she is her child by birth.

Q 04/05

Which illness prevents the elderly Abdullah from recognising Pari when the two are finally reunited?

A) Parkinson's disease

B) A brain tumour

C) Motor neurone disease

D) Alzheimer's disease

Answer · why

D) Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease has erased Pari from Abdullah's mind, echoing the fable their father told on the road, which also ends in a merciful forgetting.

Q 05/05

Which group, prominent in Hosseini's first two novels, stays largely in the background of And the Mountains Echoed?

A) Al-Qaeda

B) The Taliban

C) The mujahideen

D) The royal court

Answer · why

B) The Taliban

The Taliban barely figure because the characters' struggles are private ones; Hosseini said he was glad the change kept his storytelling fresh.