In the chap­ter titled “ONE,” we are intro­duced to Par­vana, an eleven-year-old girl liv­ing in war-torn Kab­ul under Tal­iban rule. Despite the oppres­sive envi­ron­ment that for­bids girls from leav­ing their homes or attend­ing school, Par­vana ven­tures out­side to assist her father, who has been injured. She hides in her chador while accom­pa­ny­ing him to the mar­ket, sit­ting qui­et­ly on a blan­ket and wish­ing to remain invis­i­ble amidst the harsh real­i­ties sur­round­ing her.

Par­vana reflects on her life before the Tal­iban’s rise—her sis­ter Noo­ria had been in high school, and their moth­er worked for a radio sta­tion. Now, their fam­i­ly is con­fined to a sin­gle room along with younger sib­lings, Maryam and Ali, strug­gling with the loss of free­dom and the con­stant threat of vio­lence that has defined Parvana’s life. Strug­gling with fear yet demon­strat­ing resilience, Par­vana helps her father as he reads and writes let­ters for cus­tomers who can­not do so them­selves.

In the mar­ket­place, Par­vana observes the dai­ly life around her: men shop­ping, tea boys bustling about, and the chaos of the busy street. She dreams of free­dom, wish­ing to run and explore rather than sit in dis­com­fort. Par­vana’s edu­ca­tion is empha­sized; her par­ents, both edu­cat­ed, instilled the val­ue of learn­ing in her. She recalls her fas­ci­na­tion with Afghan his­to­ry and her father’s sto­ries about their rich past, over­shad­owed now by the Tal­iban’s strict gov­er­nance and ongo­ing con­flict.

As the chap­ter pro­gress­es, we learn more about the family’s his­to­ry, their pre­vi­ous­ly com­fort­able life before the war, and the loss of their home and belong­ings to con­tin­u­ous bomb­ings. Parvana’s father, once a teacher and a proud man, now strug­gles with his health and has been dimin­ished by their cir­cum­stances. The chap­ter clos­es on a somber note as they return home through per­ilous streets, high­light­ing their strug­gle to main­tain dig­ni­ty amidst the chaos of their scarred city. The spir­it of resilience emerges, under­scor­ing the impact of war on chil­dren like Par­vana, who long for a nor­mal life filled with edu­ca­tion, free­dom, and joy.