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Broken Paths
The award-winning Broken Paths is a powerful, tender and elegiac story that charts the dysfunctional relationship between a Bengali single mother and her son, living in England. It peels away layers of family history in both countries to reveal the painful secrets that each keeps from the other, the estrangement this causes over time, and the clash of cultural, religious and moral values. Suhel Ahmed spent many of his childhood years growing up in the verdant countryside of Bangladesh. Broken Paths is his first novel; it won the Best Unpublished Novel award at Muslim Writers Awards in 2009 and was also awarded a grant from the Arts Council England. “I read the book for, and with, pleasure, and was often delighted by the switches in narration and tone. I found it constantly gripping. I liked the double POV and the interweaving of timescapes and of landscape, of quasi-theatrical set pieces and long passages of interior monologue. Congratulations on a fine first work.”
Aamer Hussein, Author of Another Gulmohar Tree (2009) and The Cloud Messenger (2011) “Suhel's Broken Paths is a courageous and accomplished first novel. Set in the Bangladeshi community it is a story of disenchantment, deceit, betrayal, unfulfilled desires and obsessive love. Suhel offers us a wonderfully evocative and nuanced portrayal of Amina - the mother - and Samir - the son - in a novel whose graphic and convincing evocations of place is outstanding.”
Jacob Ross, Author of Pynter Bender Broken Paths is a brilliant first novel, a compelling story about faith and love written with energy and great style. It includes an exquisitely nuanced portrait of a mother-son dynamic. The clashing cultural and religious values that test this relationship are handled with great insight and in an entirely fresh way. Characters are rich and believable throughout, and the urban environment is itself shown as a rich and believable character.”
Robin Yassin-Kassab, Author of The Road from Damascus
Aamer Hussein, Author of Another Gulmohar Tree (2009) and The Cloud Messenger (2011) “Suhel's Broken Paths is a courageous and accomplished first novel. Set in the Bangladeshi community it is a story of disenchantment, deceit, betrayal, unfulfilled desires and obsessive love. Suhel offers us a wonderfully evocative and nuanced portrayal of Amina - the mother - and Samir - the son - in a novel whose graphic and convincing evocations of place is outstanding.”
Jacob Ross, Author of Pynter Bender Broken Paths is a brilliant first novel, a compelling story about faith and love written with energy and great style. It includes an exquisitely nuanced portrait of a mother-son dynamic. The clashing cultural and religious values that test this relationship are handled with great insight and in an entirely fresh way. Characters are rich and believable throughout, and the urban environment is itself shown as a rich and believable character.”
Robin Yassin-Kassab, Author of The Road from Damascus
304 pages, Paperback
First published May 24, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 6, 2021
Brilliant debut from Suhel Ahmed
This novel is written well and composed in a fine manner. It was the story of a dysfunctional relationship between a Bengali single mother and her only son. I,as a British Bangladeshi, identified with all the descriptions of encounters in Bangladesh and of descriptions of the affairs and going ons with the British Bangladeshis characters based in London. It was a quite remarkable to read a book based around Bangladeshis. This book was quite dramatic but was quite melancholic in its narrative theme. I look forward to Suhel Ahemd's second book, 'Disinherited'.
This novel is written well and composed in a fine manner. It was the story of a dysfunctional relationship between a Bengali single mother and her only son. I,as a British Bangladeshi, identified with all the descriptions of encounters in Bangladesh and of descriptions of the affairs and going ons with the British Bangladeshis characters based in London. It was a quite remarkable to read a book based around Bangladeshis. This book was quite dramatic but was quite melancholic in its narrative theme. I look forward to Suhel Ahemd's second book, 'Disinherited'.
January 16, 2015
A brilliantly insightful, thought-provoking and entertaining novel about a Bangladeshi mother and her son living in England. I couldn't put it down once I started. Beautifully written and I highly recommend it. I am looking forward to reading the author`s next novel.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews