First, a big thanks to Marcia for the invitation to post on her blog – such a generous thing to do.

I wanted to tell everyone – especially anyone living in Australia – my memoir Drunk Chickens and Burnt Macaroni is in Amazon’s Winter Sale in Australia right now for only 99c. Sale lasts until August 22^nd.

Drunk Chickens provides a remarkable insight into the lives of ordinary women in Afghanistan. Despite the hardships in their lives – and there are many – they are not all helpless, downtrodden victims but women of courage, determined to make the best of life for themselves and their families.

Excerpt (taken from a section about the health classes)

Before we started on lessons about healthy pregnancies and deliveries, the students requested a class on family planning. It was the contraceptive pill they most wanted to hear about.

‘Is it true,’ asked Kulsom, ‘that if a woman takes the family planning goli for a while then has another baby she won’t have any milk?’ Someone else wanted to know if forgetting the pill meant the woman would have twins. Others were concerned they might be infertile if they took the pill for too long.

This worried Kulsom, who said, ‘It’s not that I don’t want any more babies but I’m tired – I’d like a rest before the next one.’ As she had had four babies in six years it was not surprising she was tired.

Nickbacht, a mother of seven commented, ‘It used to be that babies came every two years. Now, it is often every year. It is harder for the younger ones now.’

Her explanation for the increased birth rate caused laughter but general agreement from the others. ‘It’s since the war started and so many men went to join the mujahideen,’ she said. ‘They don’t have sex while they are on duty so when they come home they want it all the time until they go away again. If they come home once a year, then once a year their wives become pregnant. If there is ever peace again and the men are at home all the time it will go back to every two years. When you can eat sugar whenever you want, you stop wanting it so much.’

There was much giggling and hiding of faces when I asked the women to tell me what they knew about how babies are conceived. A few ribald remarks were made amidst increased giggles, making me explain hastily that I did not want a description of the physical act. While it was clear the “how-to” aspect of procreation was undoubtedly understood, there was little knowledge of the process of conception.

There was some confused murmuring about male and female eggs and someone declared a woman could not become pregnant unless she was sexually satisfied.

Nickbacht snorted. ‘If that was true, how come there are so many children running around?’ This smart rejoinder provoked much laughter.’

BUY LINKS:

Amazon Australia ($0.99) : http://amzn.to/2a4v3pA

Also available at the usual price (or read free with Kindle Unlimited) on
Amazon USA: http://amzn.to/1ybbbVb  and UK: http://amzn.to/1tAcNLt