Twelve year old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father Baba, one of the richest and most respected merchants in Kabul.

He has failed to do so through academia or brawn, but the one area where they connect is the annual kite fighting tournament.

Amir is determined not just to win the competition but to run the last kite and bring it home triumphantly, to prove to his father that he has the makings of a man.

His loyal friend Hassan is the best kite runner that Amir has ever seen, and he promises to help him - for Hassan always helps Amir out of trouble.

But Hassan is a Shi'a Muslim and this is 1970s Afghanistan.

Hassan is taunted and jeered at by Amir's school friends; he is merely a servant living in a shack at the back of Amir's house.

So why does Amir feel such envy towards his friend? Then, what happens to Hassan on the afternoon of the tournament is to shatter all their lives, and define their futures.

When Russia invades Afghanistan, Amir and Baba escape to San Francisco, where Baba fades but Amir feels that at last he can succeed.

But he is still haunted by guilt and he knows that his past will not let him go. The destructive rule of the Northern Alliance, followed by the even more terrifying and oppressive Taliban have destroyed the country that Amir knows, but the hearts of men cannot be suppressed.

Amir must return to Afghanistan to search for salvation, and perhaps his life-altering mistakes can be redeemed.

This is a moving, courageous story of love, loyalty, secrets and vengeance, and of a country and a boy whose footsteps cannot be retraced, as the events and decisions resonate and alter them for ever.