Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    One Half from the East
    One Half from the East
    One Half from the East
    Audiobook5 hours

    One Half from the East

    Written by Nadia Hashimi

    Narrated by Ariana Delawari

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia, Thanhha Lai, and Rebecca Stead, internationally bestselling author Nadia Hashimi’s first novel for young readers is a coming-of-age journey set in modern-day Afghanistan that explores life as a bacha posh—a preteen girl dressed as a boy.

    Obayda’s family is in need of some good fortune, and her aunt has an idea to bring the family luck—dress Obayda, the youngest of four sisters, as a boy, a bacha posh.

    Life in this in-between place is confusing, but once Obayda meets another bacha posh, everything changes. Their transformation won’t last forever, though—unless the two best friends can figure out a way to make it stick and make their newfound freedoms endure.

    Nadia Hashimi’s first novel for adults, The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, was a bestseller that shares a bacha posh character with One Half from the East.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 6, 2016
    ISBN9780062570215
    Author

    Nadia Hashimi

    Nadia Hashimi is a pediatrician turned international bestselling novelist and daughter of Afghan immigrants. She is the author of four books for adults, as well as the middle grade novels One Half from the East and The Sky at Our Feet. She lives with her family in the Washington, DC, suburbs. Visit her online at nadiahashimibooks.com.

    Related to One Half from the East

    Related audiobooks

    Children's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Counter Waves

      Oct 23, 2020

      Counter Waves
      8 min read

    • Article

      Shanda

      Jan 1, 2024

      Shanda
      13 min read

    • Article

      How to Buy a Used Car During a Wildfire

      Jan 14, 2019

      I do not laugh but the children do. “I hate these fucking places,” I think again, turning the radio back on. The post How to Buy a Used Car During a Wildfire appeared first on The Millions.

      12 min read

    • Article

      Musings On My Father

      Aug 8, 2022

      Musings On My Father
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Workbench

      Dec 23, 2020

      The Workbench
      6 min read

    • Article

      You Girls Are Good

      Mar 31, 2022

      You Girls Are Good
      16 min read

    • Article

      Nuclear

      Oct 7, 2021

      Nuclear
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Animal In The Yard

      Aug 17, 2017

      The Animal In The Yard
      17 min read

    • Article

      Death On The Limpopo

      Sep 16, 2019

      Death On The Limpopo
      5 min read

    • Article

      What the Tornado Gave Us

      May 1, 2022

      OF ALL THAT I lost when we moved to America, my personality is what I missed most. Not lost in a forever kind of way, perhaps just misplaced, because after I had a friend, it began to show up again. In Mexico, I knew the language well enough to easil

      3 min read

    • Article

      Daughters’ Bodies

      Dec 1, 2019

      WHEN I’M about to go away to college, my grandmother dies and my mother silently puts herself up for adoption. LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO ADOPT ME: Kind, lonely, beautiful woman in her 50s. Dead husband. No children. Cooks and cleans. 4’11 and 90 lbs. Gu

      20 min read

    • Article

      Who Was My Mother?

      Sep 12, 2019

      Who Was My Mother?
      7 min read

    • Article

      Count Your Chickens

      Mar 5, 2018

      Count Your Chickens
      5 min read

    • Article

      Ferrante Elena Beautiful No More!

      Oct 7, 2020

      Ferrante Elena Beautiful No More!
      6 min read

    • Article

      Elena Ferrante Beautiful No More!

      Oct 7, 2020

      Elena Ferrante Beautiful No More!
      6 min read

    • Article

      A New Normal

      Jul 31, 2017

      WORDS SHANDUKANI MULAUDZI WHEN MY FAMILY MOVED TO PRETORIA I WAS A FIVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL EXCITED FOR AN ADVENTURE.We lived in a small township called Makwarela in the former Bantustan of Venda, now Limpopo. My mother went to Pretoria for a few weeks fir

      3 min read

    • Article

      Six Stories

      Sep 8, 2020

      I’m on the train, traveling alone, with two seats to myself. I have to use the restroom. Without thinking about it carefully, I ask a couple across the aisle if they would please watch my things for me for a moment. Then I take a closer look at them

      8 min read

    • Article

      Evidence

      Mar 6, 2023

      Evidence
      25 min read

    • Article

      Carrot Legs

      Sep 12, 2019

      Carrot Legs
      20 min read

    • Article

      Ribs, Muscle, Bone

      Jan 7, 2020

      Ribs, Muscle, Bone
      10 min read

    • Article

      Little House

      Jun 5, 2023

      On Monday nights our mother made popcorn and served it to us in mugs with milk poured over. My younger sister and I carried our mugs into the family room and ate the popcorn with spoons, like cereal. We were five and seven. Until we were allowed to s

      21 min read

    • Article

      What the Tornado Gave Us

      Jul 1, 2022

      In part 1, Rosica tells the story of how she and her family moved from Mexico to North Carolina to join her father, who works as a roofer and has been sending home money. Adjusting to a new school where they didn’t know the language was easier on her

      9 min read

    • Article

      Birthday Surprise

      Sep 17, 2021

      Birthday Surprise
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Cairo Apartments

      Jan 10, 2021

      The Cairo Apartments
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Kitchen, A Sunroom, And A Thousand Days

      Aug 5, 2019

      I was young, maybe 8 or 9. My mother was going through a time: The couple she cleaned for and whom we lived with had broken up and left us lingering in their abandoned home. She had cancer, my mother, so her head was where it was, but sometimes she w

      3 min read

    • Article

      Lies I Tell My Father

      Feb 10, 2024

      “How’s your job at the newspaper?” my father asks me. He is sitting on a couch, a plush throw blanket spread across his legs. “The newspaper’s fine,” I lie. I lie because it is simple. I lie because it is quick. I lie because it is easier than trying

      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for One Half from the East

    4/5

    52 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      A fairly straightforward story about an Afghani girl who becomes a boy to help her family and discovers joy in the freedom her new role offers. Deals with gender in a very gentle way.
    • 4/5
      A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins Canada for an ARC in an exchange for an honest review.

      Nadia Hashimi's first YA novel is a coming-of-age story with a twist. Set in modern-day Afghanistan, we meet Obayda, the youngest girl of four sisters, who becomes a bacha posh (a preteen girl dressed as a boy) to bring her family luck.

      Obayda, now Obayd, must live as though she were a boy however, is struggling as he straddles both worlds until he meets another bacha posh, Rahim. Together they try to find a way to make their transformations stick so that they can enjoy their newfound freedoms.

      Hashimi explores the bacha posh in The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, and crosses over the character of Rahima/Rahim. She was interested in this part of Afghanistan's past after reading an article about how a king would use women, dressed as men, to guard his harem (trust no man!). These women are generations apart, being dressed as boys in a country where being female is a consequence.

      This book is a wonderful story of tenacity, friendship, and survival set against a backdrop of harsh realities. Give it a read, you will not be disappointed.
    • 3/5
      Narrated by Ariana Delawari. After Obayda's father loses his leg in a car bombing, the family's fortunes suffer and they move from Kabul to her father's childhood village. To bring luck to the family with all daughters, 10-year-old Obayda dresses as a boy, or a bacha posh. She struggles with her new role until she meets Rahim (sp?) who is also a bacha posh. From strong, confident Rahim, Obayd (her boy's name) learns how to act, think, and be like a boy. It's a freeing experience compared to the sheltered existence of girls but how much longer can it last? Rahim is always referred to as "he" and "him," including by Obayd. Although her lack of differentiation in voices leads to occasional confusion, Delawari conveys the drama, frustration and joys of Obayda's journey as a boy.
    • 4/5
      In today's world the word transgender is not a taboo. People have a choice in who they want to be. However, I can't image living in a world where the culture does put such high importance on the male that females have no choice but to become bacha posh. I am very luckily to not have to experience this. I was born in South Korea and was adopted. I thought the author did a great job of giving readers both young and old a look into another culture. For the young demographic that this book is geared towards, it is very age appropriate. Obayd and Rahim were good characters. I really did feel for them both and their situations. I am glad that this book had a happy ending. I look forward to checking out more books by this author.