PublishedBloomsbury, September 2023 |
ISBN9781526647719 |
FormatSoftcover, 336 pages |
Dimensions19.8cm × 12.9cm |
'A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces' MADELINE MILLER
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Maryam and Zahra.
In 1988 Karachi, two fourteen-year-old girls are a decade into their friendship, sharing in-jokes, secrets and a love for George Michael. As Pakistan's dictatorship falls and a woman comes to power, the world suddenly seems full of possibilities. Elated by the change in the air, they make a snap decision at a party. That night, everything goes wrong, and the two girls are powerless to change the outcome.
Zahra and Maryam.
In present-day London, two influential women remain bound together by loyalties, disloyalties, and the memory of that night, which echoes through the present in unexpected ways. Now both have power; and both have very different ideas of how to wield it... Their friendship has always felt unbreakable; can it be undone by one decision?
'An epic story that explores the ties of childhood friendship, the possibility of escape, the way the political world intrudes into the personal, all through the lens of two sharply drawn protagonists' Observer
Sarah is the fiction buyer at Boffins and has a penchant for writing that is incisive and challenging, bonus points for complicated characters. Trained as a chef, Sarah enjoys all things food- be it a beautifully laid out cookbook, a crop of broad beans in her garden, or a holiday planned entirely around where to eat. When she’s not barracking for the Dockers or walking her dogs, she enjoys endlessly searching for Perth’s best coffee.
A vibrant setting of Karachi, 1988 makes way for the story of two 14 year old girls dicovering the world just as Benazir Bhutto comes to power. Fast forward 25 years and their friendship remains despite taking vastly different paths. I love the way Shamsie writes women, particularly the complexity of female friendship.
