The Dove in the Tea Room: And Other Life Stories

Also an integral to the story is Candace, who portrays the archetypical wealthy American woman and whose sense of judgment is often blurred by her overpowering desire to help Isabel, a British journalist with a traumatic past and a risky future, both attributed to her greatest virtue and vice: Another central character is Yazmina, a simple village girl, kidnapped during her pregnancy and left to die on the streets of Kabul, but saved from the repercussions of this cruel twist of fate by Sunny.

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez - review

What follows is a bittersweet ride. There are unexpected twists both happy and painful , struggle faced by all the characters either internally or externally and most of all; there is acceptance and companionship, the two pillars upon which the coffee shop stands.

The idea behind this book was a beautiful one, and I can say without a doubt that the sheer genius of the idea has come across to the reader through the pages. To write about a warzone, to humanise it for one's readers, give it life and an identity beyond bloodshed is a feat that deserves more appreciation than I could ever articulate into sentences.

Moving on to the actual story: There's so much more power, energy and zeal that could have been channeled into the female protagonists. Sunny, Isabel and Candace are absolute breaths of fresh air in terms of being female leads without being damsels in distress, but there's so much more that could have been; they are flames that could have easily been wildfires.

However, the two Afghan women who feature in the book, Halajan and Yazmina, are absolute powerhouses who command the novel with their unexpected strength and spirit. Although my overall verdict for this novel is positive, I couldn't help but feeling at certain points that I was reading a weakly scripted feminist soap opera. I recruited the support of some very dear friends and after doing a lot of praying and a lot of homework, getting advice from local healthcare professionals, solicitors, and potential funders, we felt confident enough to start looking for some premises.

The only problem being we had no money. We needed someone to give us a building but who was going to do that?

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez - review | Children's books | The Guardian

Someone suggested I go and speak to a Mr Ian Jesson, the trustee of a local gospel trust who owned several properties in the area to see if they could help. I remember so clearly my very nervously going along to meet this gentleman and explaining to him what I wanted to do and asking him if he by any chance had a building to spare! To my horror his initial response was to roar with laughter — probably at my audacity.

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To my relief, once he had finished laughing at me, he told me to come and meet him again the following week when he showed me a rather dilapidated, unused building that needed a huge amount of work done to it. I must admit my heart rather sank. Although it was a generous offer, where would we get the money from to do it up? I asked for some time to think about it and during the following week, amazingly I felt God spoke to me through a book I was reading and He gave me these following words:.

Concerning the finances of this venture, they will come and they will come in large and small amounts. You shall have no lack and you must not skimp in anything that you do but shall have the best for me, says the Lord. I will require the best. The best carpets, the best chairs and curtains and all you see and behold with your eyes.

I will provide for my house and there shall be meat and drink and this shall be honour. People shall walk in and open their eyes and say such beauty, such glory, such things — surely the Lord has done great things.

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Even after all these years it makes me tingle when I read those words again because God has so honoured everything he said to me back then. How exciting was this — We were off. Yes, they were hard work but they were also the most faith-building, inspiring times imaginable. The local community were brilliant. Offers came in from all different directions. Offers of money, time, manpower, things like, doors, windows, carpets, curtains — you name it everything we needed arrived. I think one of my favourite stories is my kitchen one.

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The building was gradually taking shape and came the time to install the kitchen. The builder rang me up to ask whether I had ordered it yet. At that time we had absolutely no money in the bank to pay for one. The next day, as I pondered my problem, I had a phone call from a local fund-raising group that were looking to donate some money to charity. I was reluctant to admit we needed a kitchen when they may have been thinking more in the terms of a kettle!

Once again our prayers had been answered — we had the money for our kitchen. To start with we only opened two days a week, taking up to 8 people each day, and then it was 3 days and eventually 4. By we were desperately running out of space.