In ‘The Opium Prince,’ the personal plays out amid the political

Jasmine Aimaq’s debut novel, “The Opium Prince,” is enjoyable on multiple levels. First, it’s a captivating work of fiction that examines how its two protagonists move from guilt and despair to redemption. Second, Aimaq immerses readers into everyday life in Afghanistan with such skill that even a passage about buying freshly baked flatbread is a poetic experience.

Set during the late 1970s, “The Opium