Sajid didn’t waste any time arranging a meeting with his friend after Samiah begrudgingly agreed to do so. Two days later she found herself with Sajid, walking towards the restaurant where they were to meet Amer. “This feels like a blind date,” Samiah said, trying to hide her nerves. “When …
Lubna’s wedding was only six weeks away and the planning was in full swing. As the specially selected maid of honour, Samiah was expected to be involved in every detail of her sister’s wedding plans, from the dress and make-up, to décor and wedding favours and even down to the …
It was last year (2011) that I heard about the Globe to Globe to festival; the moment I discovered there was to be a play in performed in Urdu, I knew I had to go. Despite studying Shakespeare at various points during my education (is it ever possible to avoid …
I wasn’t expecting to like this book very much for two reasons: firstly I’d read Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and since I hadn’t found it particularly moving, I had low expectations; secondly, novels drowning in themes of drug abuse, adultery and corruption aren’t really my cup of tea. After …
The Good Muslim is the second novel in a trilogy, and sequel to A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (review here). It’s been twelve years since the war of independence, but the people of Bangladesh don’t really have much more freedom or stability than they did before the war: a …
‘What sense did it make to have a country in two halves, poised on either side of India like a pair of horns?’ When I first picked up A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam, it struck me that I knew next to nothing about the history of Bangladesh. Being a …
Rumika Vasi is 10 years, two months, 13 days, two hours, 42 minutes and 6 seconds old and has known since the age of five that she is a “gifted” child. Her father Mahesh is obsessed with pushing Rumi as far as he can academically, determined to make her the …
I’m going to be honest with you: short stories are not my first choice of reading material, and although I may pick up a collection from the library once in a blue moon if it catches my eye, I will always prefer to read longer pieces of fiction. Well, long …
