Columbia Pictures has bought the rights to the brand new Deborah Rodriguez and Kristin Ohlson best seller, Kabul Beauty School.

Rodriguez, a divorced hairdresser from Michigan with two kids, decided to give her life a complete makeover and headed to Afghanistan in 2002, shortly after the Taliban had been toppled. Variety notes there she found women who were eager to come out from under the veils they'd been forced to wear. She opened a beauty school, with donations from American beauty companies and other benefactors, and tried to mesh in a culture that was still male-dominated.

The story tells of war-torn Afghanistan's attempt to recover from the devastating rule of the Taliban, through Rodriguez's personal journey. No production schedule has been set for Kabul Beauty School.