I picked this book up fairly cheaply second hand and must admit I wasn't expecting very much, having never heard of the author. However, this is easily one better books that I've read in the past few years. The story tells of a family of first-generation immigrants from Pakistan and the central aspect of the plot surrounds the disapearance of the main character Shamas's brother, Jugnu and his live-in girlfriend Chandra. Chandra's two brothers have recently been arrested for the murder of the pair, believed to be a so-called 'honour killing' due to her living with a man she is not married to. The book begins in the winter and continues through to ...  Read the complete review

Although this book proved difficult to get into during the first few pages, I urge you to give it a chance. Once the floaty, flowery narrative had settled down, it left me with one of the best books I have ever read. The book takes us to an insular Asian community within Britain, where interaction with "whites" is rare and one of the main (Kaukab) characters cannot speak fluent English. Kaukab is very religious (as she is a Cleric's daughter) and her husband Shamas is a non believer and takes a more liberal, western attitude which causes friction within the community. This creates a beautiful balance within the book as both points of view ...  Read the complete review

Nadeem Aslam was born in Gujranwala, Pakistan in 1966, the son of a poet and sometime film director who had to flee the country when Nadeem was fourteen because of his communist beliefs. The family settled in West Yorkshire where Nadeem went on to start writing, inspired in some ways, one would think, by his father. His first book,’ Season of the Rainbirds’, was published in 1993 to critical acclaim, enabling him to work on his book, ‘Maps for Lost Lovers.’ A feat which took him eleven years to complete. It was finished in 2004 and published by Faber & Faber. I was attracted to the book because of the nature of the story and the number of plaudits ...  Read the complete review