The Alterations Lady

August 5, 2024
An Afghan woman’s journey from her war-torn homeland to life as “an alterations lady to the wealthiest women” in Scottsdale, Ariz., is recapped in this evocative if flawed debut from journalist Miller. Lailoma Shahwali grew up in Kabul during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s and the country’s civil wars in the ’90s. She experienced violence firsthand, including surviving the Taliban’s 1996 bombing campaign against Kabul, recollections of which open the narrative with gruesome lyricism: “The stench of blood pervaded the air. Sometimes she found a body part, but knowing who it belonged to was often hard to tell.” That same year, Shahwali witnessed the murder of her husband by the Taliban. Miller’s account, while sumptuously written, has oddities in its approach. Among them is that framing Shahwali as an everywoman feels disingenuous, given that her husband was “a highly placed general” in the Soviet-backed government; and that Miller can come off as condescending in the way she handles profiling someone she met working in a customer service role (Miller frequents the Neiman Marcus where Shahwali works). For example, after the opening bombing scene, Miller pivots to an account of Shahwali winning an employee-of-the-year award, presenting it as an almost equally emotional moment (“Lailoma’s heart thundered in her chest, and she realized she was holding her breath”). This falls short of the mark.

October 15, 2024
The harrowing story of an Afghan refugee's journey to Arizona. A gown that needed alterations brought Miller into contact with Shahwali--and allowed the journalist to learn the tailor's remarkable story. In this as-told-to biography that alternates between episodes from the tailor's past, Miller examines the events that transformed Shahwali from an Afghan girl with dreams of becoming a doctor into an international refugee. Growing up in comfortable, though not wealthy, circumstances, young Shahwali learned that marriage--typically brokered between families--was her fate as a woman. However, through the intervention of Zaher, her father's older brother and family patriarch, Lailoma was allowed to go to school, where she excelled. Her parents still arranged a marriage for her to Mussa, a wealthy older man she at first did not accept but came to love for his kindness and liberal attitudes toward her professional goals. But just as she was ready to begin university studies, the Taliban took power and forced all girls and women back into the home. The Taliban eventually killed Mussa, forcing the almost penniless Lailoma and her son Maiwand to flee across mountainous terrain into Pakistan, then to the United States. Miller's narrative skillfully transforms the raw details of Lailoma's life into a captivating book. Engrossing reading about a courageous immigrant.

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