WINNER OF THE WRITERS’ GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BOWKER VOLCANO AND MCKITTERICK PRIZES

‘A stunning debut novel’
Kamila Shamsie

‘An impressive, gripping debut’
The Times

‘Rich and deeply moving . . . marvellous’
Yaa Gyasi

Pakistan, 1968. As riots erupt in the streets of Lahore, Inspector Faraz Ali returns to his birthplace, the red-light district in the walled inner city. Wrested from it as a child by his powerful father to be raised by a respectable family, Faraz has hidden his roots ever since. Now his father has sent him back: to cover up the murder of a young courtesan.

It should be a simple task, but for once Faraz finds himself unable to obey orders – nor can he resist searching for the mother and sister he left behind. Chasing after answers that risk shattering his precariously constructed existence, Faraz is unaware that his sister also faces a return to the old city, and to the life she
thought she had escaped.

‘A gripping read that does not let you go, even after the end’
Maaza Mengiste

‘ Stunning . . . fully human, fully engaged with what makes us human’
New York Times Book Review