The quiet courage of Peter and Barbie Reynolds offers both inspiration and warning. For nearly two decades, the British couple devoted their lives to education projects in Afghanistan, training women and children in a country where opportunity has steadily narrowed. Their love story began there in the 1970s, and even after the Taliban’s return to power they continued their work, believing that carefully negotiated approvals from local authorities would protect them.

Yet their seven and a half months in detention reveal how fragile such protections can be under a regime that rules by whim. Arrested without explanation during a trip from Kabul to Bamiyan, Peter and Barbie were shuttled through 10 prisons, including the infamous Pul-e-Charkhi facility. They endured basement cells without windows, chained transfers, and a diet of what Peter described as “oily and salty” prison food. At eighty and seventy-six, both suffered serious........

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