Author: Monica Ali
Format: Medium Softcover
Condition: Very Good
Nazneen's inauspicious entry to the world, an apparent stillbirth on the hard mud floor of a Bangladeshi village hut, imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents when she is married off to Chanu. Her life in London's Tower Hamlets is, on the surface, calm.
For years, keeping house and rearing children, she does what is expected of her. Yet Nazneen walks a tightrope stretched between her daughters' embarrassment and her husband's resentments. Chanu calls his elder daughter the little memsahib. 'I didn't ask to be born here,' says Shahana, with regular finality.
Into that fragile peace walks Karim. He sets questions before her, of longing and belonging; he sparks in her a turmoil that reflects the community's own; he opens her eyes and directs her gaze - but what she sees, in the end, comes as a surprise to them both.
While Nazneen journeys along her path of self-realization, a way haunted by her mother's ghost, her sister Hasina, back in Bangladesh, rushes headlong at her life, first making a 'love marriage', then fleeing her violent husband. Woven through the novel, Hasina's letters from Dhaka recount a world of overwhelming adversity.
Description of book condition:
New Brand new and unread book.
As New A secondhand book that can easily pass for a new one.
Very Good Book is in great condition with only a minor blemish here and there.
Good Book shows visible reading wear but nothing serious.
Fair Book shows clear and more significant wear, especially on the cover, but is still solid and intact.
Worn Book shows severe wear and tear while still being intact (commonly known as a "reading copy"). Worn books are still good perfect for a good read, all pages will be intact with none threatening to fall out.
