** spoiler alert ** A story of a girl from Bangladesh (Nazneen) and her sister who are raised by a depressed mother and an unfaithful father. Nazneen is repeatedly told the story of how she was still born and survived. The story is called How You Were Left To Your Fate. This entire novel describes the life of a woman who believes that she must submit to fate and cannot control her future. She is married to an older man (Chanu) who lives in London, she has three children and one dies. Her husband drives her crazy (he drove me crazy too) but she appreciates that he doesn't beat her. At some point (during an affair with an Islamic radical, who it must be said, also drove me crazy) she realizes that she is in control of her fate.

The author also has a lot to say about the situation of unskilled immigrant workers and about educated immigrants who can't find a decent job. Living conditions, racial issues, women's issues, religious and political issues are all dealt with in a fairly smooth fashion. It was interesting to read the letters from the younger sister who stays in Bangladesh and compare the two situations.

I could give this book another star for the writing, which was good. I enjoyed some of the supporting characters very much. However, the beginning of the book was laborious and could have been tightened up quite a bit. The author used nearly 400 pages leaning toward the point but stopping just shy of it over and over, and it became a bit exhausting as did listening to Chanu. The positive and self-determined ending was rather abrupt, but felt good. I'd like to see a sequel that just tells a great story about a group of Bangladeshi women who go into business together.