How is your debut novel The Almond Tree different from Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner?

I write about a brilliant Palestinian who grows up in an impoverished village under Israeli martial law. My writing teacher, Les Edgerton, described The Almond Tree as “A tale of innocence moving through a vicious world, compassion learned against an environment of daily horrors, and wisdom forged through a boy’s journey through a life we would never wish upon our own children.”
The protagonist in The Kite Runner appears to be a boy of average intelligence who grows up wealthy and privileged in a fairly peaceful environment other than the occasional bullying and, of course, the rape.
Rasheeda Bhagat from the Hindu Business Line told me that The Almond Tree reminded her more of A Thousand Splendid Suns. It is similar in many ways.