Bestselling author of And the Mountains Echoed Khaled Hosseini came from very humble beginnings. He was born in Afghanistan on March 4, 1965. He was born in a city that is a central place in all of his novels, Kabul. Hosseini and his family left Afghanistan in 1980 after the Soviets invaded (an event that is featured in his book A Thousand Splendid Suns). They moved to San Jose, California. California is also a common setting in his novels. There, he finished school and became a doctor. In 2003 Hosseini published his first book, called The Kite Runner. It was very successful and was adapted into a Golden Globe-nominated film. The success of The Kite Runner inspired Hosseini to continue his career as a novelist. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini's second novel, was released in 2007, to equal, if not more success than his first book. His third novel, And the Mountains Echoed was recently published in May. Hosseini still lives in California with his family.