Monica Ali's gorgeous first novel is the deeply moving story of one
woman, Nazneen, born in a Bangladeshi village and transported to
London at age eighteen to enter into an arranged marriage. Already
hailed by the London "Observer" as "one of the most significant
British novelists of her generation," Ali has written a stunningly
accomplished debut about one outsider's quest to find her voice.
"What could not be changed must be borne. And since nothing
could be changed, everything had to be borne. This principle ruled
her life. It was mantra, fettle, and challenge."
Nazneen's inauspicious entry into the world, an apparent
stillbirth on the hard mud floor of a village hut, imbues in her a
sense of fatalism that she carries across continents when she is
married off to Chanu, a man old enough to be her father. Nazneen
moves to London and, for years, keeps house, cares for her husband,
and bears children, just as a girl from the village is supposed to
do. But gradually she is transformed by her experience, and begins
to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in
her own destiny.
Motherhood is a catalyst -- Nazneen's daughters chafe against
their father's traditions and pride -- and to her own amazement,
Nazneen falls in love with a young man in the community. She
discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the
depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters, and her new
world.
While Nazneen journeys along her path of self-realization, her
sister, Hasina, 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. Shaped, yet not bound, by their landscapes and memories,
both sisters struggle to dream -- and live -- beyond the rules
prescribed for them.
Vivid, profoundly humane, and beautifully rendered, "Brick Lane"
captures a world at once unimaginable and achingly familiar. And it
establishes Monica Ali as a thrilling new voice in fiction. As
"Kirkus Reviews" said, "She is one of those dangerous writers who
see everything."
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