What are we reading? 8th June 2022

[[deleted user]]

Bill - That cartoon is hilarious.

[giveusaclue]

scarletnoir wrote: "Lljones wrote: "In the meantime, Happy Flag Day!"

Beautiful iris photo...

What on earth is 'flag day'?"

My "flags" pale mauve have all gone over now and been cut back.Lovely while they lasted And, yes, I call them flags too.

[giveusaclue]

Bill wrote: ""

🤣

[Robert]

AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Having finished my reading on Imperial Russia and its "foreign faiths" my next non fiction read is Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb.

I originally ignored this book, while i..."

A friend remarked to me that a seaside Sicilian village may have a Norman look, while another nearby has a completely different history. As Sal remarked, Sicily has been invaded many times by many different peoples.

[Veufveuve]

Georg wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "Re: the power and impact of novels. Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" (very much written as an attack on capitalism) led to significant shifts in public opinion but also to substantiv..."

Yes, I know Sinclair had other purposes in writing The Jungle, but unintended or not, I would argue this was victory and very much not Pyrrhic. Still, I'm not sure I was framing it in terms of victories, per se, anyway. I was thinking instead of impact. It certainly had an impact and brought about change. Less measurable via a concrete piece of legislation, but surely To Kill a Mockingbird must have played some part in shifting attitudes to race in the US. Lady Chatterley's Lover, via the trial, helped bring about a shift in public attitudes to obscenity (and probably, in the end, a change in the law too). There must be many examples. I just don't think it's the case that novels never bring about change in the "real world." Of course, we rarely value books and reading merely on some crude measure of utility anyway.

On a side note, I really must read Norris, The Pit especially.

[Veufveuve]

In other news, I started Kamel Daoud's "The Meursault Investigation" last night; in highly simplistic terms, a telling of Camus' "The Stranger" from an Algerian perspective.

In a shamefaced confession. I read one Camus in my early teen years but cannot now remember if it was "The Stranger" or "The Plague" (not that I think it matters for reading the Daoud). There are a number of books I read much too young, not least Dostoyevsky.

[Robert]

Veufveuve wrote: "Georg wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "Re: the power and impact of novels. Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" (very much written as an attack on capitalism) led to significant shifts in public opinion but also..."

Theodore Roosevelt actually summoned Sinclair to the White House and questioned him about his sources. TR then sent two agents to Chicago, to interview people identified by Sinclair, survey the packing plants, and prepare a report. The news? Much of what Sinclair said was true; in some places, conditions in the plants were worse than in his fiction. Teddy, through selective leaks to friendly journalists and Congressmen, spent the following months building up support for a Pure Food and Drug Act. So a work of fiction did have a real-world impact.

[Veufveuve]

Exactly so.

[scarletnoir]

Russell wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "...one of the reasons I don't much care for 'The Maltese Falcon' has to do with the fact that it looks like a filmed play - very static. Despite the interiors, was more use made..."

Thanks - in that case I suppose it was down to Huston's rather pedestrian direction, though having recently been unimpressed by Hammett's 'The Thin Man', the source material may also have had something to do with it. The cast was excellent, so the film should have been better.

[scarletnoir]

FrancesBurgundy wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Lljones wrote: "Are irises known as flags in your part of the world, or is that just a US thing?" ..."

I've always called the yellow irises that grow round ponds 'yellow flags'..."

I certainly was not the right person to ask about the names of flowers!

The link between 'flag day' and the iris photo was completely lost on me.

Edit: I have now read the part about the bee orchid - fascinating and beautiful - here's a link to a picture and a few notes:
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildli...

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "One thing I like about Laura the film is that the second half of the picture, after Dana Andrews falls asleep in front of Laura's portrait, can be read as the detective's dream."

It does feel/seem like a dream, until it isn't... I think the ambiguity about when the viewer switches from assuming it's a dream to realising that Laura is really alive is entirely deliberate - if I remember right.

[scarletnoir]

Gpfr wrote: "The name "flag" is from the middle English word "flagge," meaning rush or reed. Iris flowers are said to symbolize power, with the three parts representing wisdom, faith and courage."

Great find - it's only just 9am and it's been a good day already - I love to learn new stuff! We have also been introduced to bee orchids - fascinating. And from a poem posted by HP in WWAR on the 'Guardian', I also discovered that 'goujons' (French) can mean 'bullheads', which contrary to my best guess - I thought they might be the heads of bullrushes - are fish.

[scarletnoir]

MK wrote: "Truly, everyone is an individual. I often pick up seen-better-days paperbacks."

You may have misunderstood - the Hillerman I bought was brand new, but smaller than a typical paperback, printed on cheap paper, and had hardly any margins (it's possible that it was poorly proof-read, too, but I don't quite remember).

I don't mind second hand books, but if I buy a new one - at new book price - I expect something better.

[AB76]

Veufveuve wrote: "In other news, I started Kamel Daoud's "The Meursault Investigation" last night; in highly simplistic terms, a telling of Camus' "The Stranger" from an Algerian perspective.

In a shamefaced confe..."

The Douad is a great novel Veuf, it made me re-read sections of L'Etranger to get into the mood..

[AB76]

Edward Said and his works on Orientalism always inform my reading of novels/short stories set in the shrinking colonial fringe of the 1950s or earlier.

With Paul Bowles in Collected Stories many deal with the Moroccan locals in Tangiers and their lives, of which Bowles seemed passionate. However, in the casual violence, disregard for women and superstition i do feel a sense of an orientalist outlook on "the other".

It seems unfair on Bowles though, who lived there, helped translate novels for local authors and lived in a post-colonial international zone rather than a brutal colony. However i sometimes feel his portrayal of the Moroccan or North African Arab/Berber mind is slightly lacking respect and accuracy.

[SydneyH]

Veufveuve wrote: "In a shamefaced confe..."

I feel like you would remember if it was The Plague - there was a plague in it. Rats vomiting.

[scarletnoir]

Russell wrote: "Bill - That cartoon is hilarious."

Indeed!

[scarletnoir]

Veufveuve wrote: "I just don't think it's the case that novels never bring about change in the "real world."

Neither do I - I never used the word 'never'!

And:

Of course, we rarely value books and reading merely on some crude measure of utility anyway.

Indeedy doody.

[scarletnoir]

Veufveuve wrote: "I started Kamel Daoud's "The Meursault Investigation" last night; in highly simplistic terms, a telling of Camus' "The Stranger" from an Algerian perspective..."

Let us know what you think... HP and I discussed this on the 'Guardian' as a definite possibility - probably following a mention by another reader (AB?)

[AB76]

Midnight in Siciliy has started well, Peter Robb writes with the skill of a novelist, moving backwards and fowards around the city of Palermo and the Mafia.

The mafia links to the Christian Democrat party and seven times Italian PM Andreotti is where the story begins. The devious Roman and his mafioso links via the fellow CD politician Salvo Lima are described over a few decades and then Robb covers the shocking events of 1992, where the mafia killed Lima, Magistrate Falcone and Magistrate Borsellino in a few months.

The "Sack of Palermo" where Lima fed dodgy building contracts to various crooked unqualified builders destroyed old Palermo and its interesting to read about it again, long after i first did,to see where the mafia and local politics combined.

[Georg]

Veufveuve wrote: "Georg wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "Re: the power and impact of novels. Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" (very much written as an attack on capitalism) led to significant shifts in public opinion but also..."

Good examples I hadn't thought of. "Shifting attitudes": if a novel can do that it is a great achievement even if the impact is not measurable.

Another novelist who started as a journalist and was, maybe, the most powerful attitude shifter of them all: Charles Dickens with "Oliver Twist" and "A Christmas Carol".

[Georg]

scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "Truly, everyone is an individual. I often pick up seen-better-days paperbacks."

You may have misunderstood - the Hillerman I bought was brand new, but smaller than a typical paperback, ..."

I'd guess that was the HarperCollins edition. Truly awful. Even for someone like me who doesn't ask much when it comes to paperbacks.

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: " Midnight in Siciliy has started well, Peter Robb writes with the skill of a novelist, moving backwards and fowards around the city of Palermo and the Mafia.

The mafia links to the Christian Democ..."

A brilliant ground level view of the Mafia's influence in Sicily is given in the fictional (but convincing) series 'Mafia only kills in summer', available on the Channel 4 player.

[Bill]

scarletnoir wrote: "smaller than a typical paperback, printed on cheap paper, and had hardly any margins"

The only books I can recall reading with almost no margins were printed in the mid-40s and the margins were a result of paper rationing - one that comes to mind is Daisy Kenyon, another source novel for a Preminger film.

[scarletnoir]

Georg wrote: "Another novelist who started as a journalist and was, maybe, the most powerful attitude shifter of them all: Charles Dickens with "Oliver Twist" and "A Christmas Carol".

Your evidence for this?

I am not a Dickens expert - nor even much of an admirer, tending to respond according to that quote ascribed (not without controversy) to Oscar Wilde:
One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/02...

My very brief investigation shows that Dickens was invited to stand for parliament on three occasions, but chose not to do so. There is also a dispute as to whether he was a 'conservative' (with a small 'c') or a liberal or radical. It seems to me from this superficial investigation that Dickens was not at heart a political animal.

I rather liked this quote:

This most earnest of reformers abominated unnecessary suffering, yet he approached it not with a revolutionary's rage but rather with a born novelist's sensibility. He knew that social change can take place only in the movement toward light of particular souls, and that such change may prove slow at best and less than momentous in sum. He knew too that some terrible human pains are unavoidable... His fundamental belief contrasted sharply not only with the iron-hearted recalcitrance of the hard-core conservatives but also with the limitless hopefulness of the socialists..."

The same author concludes that:

He battled for the general improvement of mankind but yielded to the inexorable. This is wisdom that both conservatives and liberals rightly claim for their own, however the proportions might differ.

https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/le...

It is clear from that paper and others that people on both the right and the left have attempted to co-opt Dickens to their cause. His cause, though would appear to be to write moving and effective serials/novels rather than to identify with a specific political movement.

As I admit - this was a superficial and rapid look at some of what is 'out there'. I am more than willing to be persuaded that Dickens was an out-and-out leftie, or a small 'c' conservative. Just asking, like.

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: " Midnight in Siciliy has started well, Peter Robb writes with the skill of a novelist, moving backwards and fowards around the city of Palermo and the Mafia.

The mafia links to the Ch..."

thanks scarlet

[FrancesBurgundy]

Another author from Clifton Fadiman’s Reading I’ve Liked – Thomas Mann, who was discussed at some length in the previous thread. That may be why I chose him. I know I read The Magic Mountain when I was doing a German course (in English – it was only a brief course). I found it a bit of a slog if I remember correctly.

Fadiman includes an excerpt from The Magic Mountain, which I did not read, having already read it even if I can’t remember anything about it. But he also includes a short story Mario and the Magician which in his opinion is as good if not better than Death in Venice I’m sure I’ve read Death in Venice but all I can remember is the film. Mario and the Magician concerns an evening with a stage ‘conjuror’ who turns out to be one of those hypnotists who can make members of the audience do weird things. Fadiman analyses the story in depth but to me it went on a bit too long describing all his hypnotist’s tricks, and I’m afraid the deeper meanings entirely escaped me.

Also included is a response from Mann to his having his honorary doctorate with the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Bonn removed. This happened in 1937 when Mann had been exiled from Germany for four years. I know there was some criticism about Mann’s attitude to WW1 in the last thread but this letter shows his opposition to Nazism and the threatened war to come. Fadiman likens it to Zola’s J’accuse, but with an even more serious subject. Strong stuff.

[AB76]

Being a fan of reading novels set in summer,during the summer, i just found an english novel called In Youth is Pleasure from 1945 by Denton Welch, published in 2021

Could be of interest to many here

[AB76]

FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Another author from Clifton Fadiman’s Reading I’ve Liked – Thomas Mann, who was discussed at some length in the previous thread. That may be why I chose him. I know I read The Magic Mountain when I..."

for me Buddenbooks and Royal Highness are his best novels

[Veufveuve]

scarletnoir wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "I just don't think it's the case that novels never bring about change in the "real world."

Neither do I - I never used the word 'never'!

And:

Of course, we rarely value books ..."

Sorry, I don't think I was thinking of you, and hadn't meant to imply you had.

Will report back on Daoud - AB has already given a firm endorsement just a few posts under mine.

[FrancesBurgundy]

scarletnoir wrote: "I have now read the part about the bee orchid - fascinating and beautiful - here's a link to a picture and a few notes
..."

Lovely picture SN - just like mine. The notes do explain why, when there are bumble bees all around, none seem to be trying to mate with my orchids. Thank goodness they're self-fertile!

[AB76]

Veufveuve wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "I just don't think it's the case that novels never bring about change in the "real world."

Neither do I - I never used the word 'never'!

And:

Of course, we..."

For me what Daoud manages is to pump new life into somebody elses novel but with the viewpoint from the side of "the other".The Orientalist original novel of the pied-noirs, turns into the tale of those faceless, nameless arabs in Algiers, including the dead man on the beach at the centre of the Camus novel

[Gpfr]

giveusaclue wrote: "Bill wrote: ""

🤣"

Great cartoon!😂

[Tam]

The sprog has asked me for recommendations for his trip through Germany in early July. He is going to Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg, and other places along the way. He is a historian so something based on a historical take on these places would be welcomed I think. All I could think of was 'Visitation' by Jenny Erpenbeck. He asked me about Gunter Grass, but it is so long ago that I read any of his novels I'm not sure that I would recommend them these days. I have a feel of 'The Tim Drum' as being quite long-winded, for instance. Which reminds me that Mann's 'The Magic Mountain' seemed to last for ever, to me... and not in a good way. So any suggestions would be most welcome. he likes the quirky, it seems...

[AB76]

Tam wrote: "The sprog has asked me for recommendations for his trip through Germany in early July. He is going to Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg, and other places along the way. He is a historian so something b..."

i think any Nietzsche would be essential and for novels i think "Effi Briest" by Theodor Fontane and "Demian" by Hermann Hesse. The traditional, alongside the unusual....

[Robert]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "The Tsar's Foreign Faiths: Toleration and the Fate of Religious Freedom in Imperial Russia [bookcover:The Tsar's Foreign Faiths: Toleration and the Fate of Religious Fr..."

When Peter the Great imposed changes on Orthodox Church ritual, the Old Believers resisted. The sect existed outside the official Russian Orthodoxy, headed by the emperor.

There is a quite famous painting by Vasily Surikov of a noblewoman being carried off because she is an Old Believer. Other Old Believers in the crowd sign support for their sister in faith.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...

[Robert]

scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I think we've written about this before here - I'll recommend again a memoir Nisei Daughter and a novel When the Emperor Was Divine."

Thanks - I'm not surprised the topic has been dis..."

A Benedictine monk, later president of my college, did a study on the internment of the Japanese. He found that on the West Coast groups across the political spectrum supported the government; opposition came from churches. (One of the young men interned was a student at St. Martin's College. The Benedictines arranged for him to continue his studies in internment, and he graduated from the college. Dr. Ishii later became president of the college, after his retirement from the State Department.)

[Robert]

We had good discussions of published diaries a few months ago. I've started The Private Diaries of Sir H. Rider Haggard, 1914-1925, which I read decades ago, and am enjoying it.
The diary began when Britain declared war on Germany. Haggard tried to write an account of the war as it was going on, but was frustrated by the wartime censorship. This edited edition focuses on Haggard's personal observations, rather than his comments on the news.
Haggard was an active public man, and was still publishing new novels, at the time that he began work on public commissions. People who despair of the bitter partisanship of our times will find similar sentiments in Haggard's correspondence with Kipling.
He was an interesting old codger. I'm looking forward to some passages I recall from years ago.

[Veufveuve]

Tam wrote: "The sprog has asked me for recommendations for his trip through Germany in early July. He is going to Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg, and other places along the way. He is a historian so something b..."

Some shorter Mann? I enjoyed "Tonio Krōger," which is set in Southern Germany, though I'm not sure it is has a precise location. I haven't read "Felix Krull." He could probably find something containing two or three of the novellas. Less short Mann: "Buddenbrooks" draws on Mann's own family, who were from Lübeck, but Hamburg was also a Hanseatic port and so part of that milieu.

For Berlin, "Berlin Alexanderplatz" is the obvious choice but I'd also recommend "Iron Gustav" by Hans Fallada (see also "Alone in Berlin" of course). Or Erpenbeck's "Go, Went, Gone" is also Berlin set. I loved it but I think not everyone felt the same.

I would say all of these would deliver the required historical take/perspective.

[Robert]

scarletnoir wrote: "Russell wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "...one of the reasons I don't much care for 'The Maltese Falcon' has to do with the fact that it looks like a filmed play - very static. Despite the interiors, w..."

Huston didn't play fancy tricks with the camera, but he was good at working with his cast and understood how good Hammet's dialogue was.

[Gpfr]

Tam wrote: "The sprog has asked me for recommendations for his trip through Germany in early July. He is going to Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg, and other places along the way..."

Before going to Berlin, I bought Oxygen Books city-lit Berlin, an anthology of writing about the city, extracts from all sorts of books - I really liked it. Looking now, it doesn't seem very easy to get hold of though.
A while ago I wrote about Irmgard Kern The Artificial Silk Girl - excellent.

[AB76]

Robert wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "The Tsar's Foreign Faiths: Toleration and the Fate of Religious Freedom in Imperial Russia [bookcover:The Tsar's Foreign Faiths: Toleration and the ..."

i love that painting, the book mentions that by 1905, the Orthodox Church was attempting to grant the Old Believers more freedoms officially but held back by a few centuries of prejudice, it didnt go that far. Having found the 1897 religious census stats, i was suprised at how few Old Believers there were when i analysed it, i expected 10% at least not 2%

The strongest illustration of how the established Orthodox Church was dealing with significant "foreign faiths" is that by 1897, a good 31% of the empire was non-Orthodox, despite its dominant role and aggressive tactics from 1760s to 1897

Piqued by this reading i just collected Tolstoys religious writings from my local bookshop and look foward to reading it sometime later this year

[Georg]

scarletnoir wrote(125): "Georg wrote: "Another novelist who started as a journalist and was, maybe, the most powerful attitude shifter of them all: Charles Dickens with "Oliver Twist" and "A Christmas Carol".

Your evidenc..."

I said "maybe", so opinion, which cannot be backed up by evidence.

Was Dickens an out-and-out leftie, or a small 'c' conservative?

Black or white? I'd say he was 49 shades of grey.

Thank you very much for that link. Something I would never have found on my own. Only managed to read about half so far. Very interesting.

[Georg]

Tam wrote (134): "The sprog has asked me for recommendations for his trip through Germany in early July. He is going to Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg, and other places along the way. He is a historian so something b..."

Tough call, Tam.

Mainly because none of the quirky books that came to mind have been translated into English (if I leave out Kästner's childrens books))

Berlin:

Erich Kästner Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist
Vicky Baum Grand Hotel
(both set in the 20s)

Veufveuve suggested Hans Fallada: I haven't read Iron Gustav: A Berlin Family Chronicle. Alone in Berlin is excellent, but maybe too dark for holiday reading.

He also suggested Berlin Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf probably THE Berlin novel par excellence.
I made two attempts and dnf, although I found it interesting and well written. Maybe just not the right time. I certainly will have another go.

Frankfurt:

I haven't read it, but it might be interesting: the first part of Goethe's autobiography.
A major part of Anna Seghers (also excellent) The Seventh Cross takes place in Frankfurt, where the protagonist is hiding.

Heinrich Heine's "The Rabbi of Bacharach" ends in Frankfurts Jewish quarter. It sadly is a fragment, so there are only some pages before the story breaks off. Nevertheless very colourful and well worth reading imo.

Can't come up with anything substantial for Hamburg as Petra Oelker's historical crime fiction, where the city plays a major part, hasn't been translated.

Heinrich Heine's "From the Memoirs of Herr von Schnabelewopski" starts in Poland, moves to Hamburg and ends in Leiden. The Hamburg bit is short but very funny.

My Century is the only Günther Grass book I've read (gave up on "The Tin Drum" and "The Flounder" fairly early on). It is a caleidoscope whith a short short story for every year. Not overwhelming, but good enough.

I found Erpenbecks "Go, Went, Gone" mediocre at best (sorry, Veuf) and "Visitation" so dull that I gave up at 80%. Iirc, booklooker and Machenbach really liked it.

Finally a lovely holiday read, if outside your place specification: Heine's "Harzreise": quirky, enchanting, playful.

(all of Heine's works are easily available on the www).

[AB76]

Georg wrote: "Tam wrote (134): "The sprog has asked me for recommendations for his trip through Germany in early July. He is going to Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg, and other places along the way. He is a histor..."

Falladas 1930s novel "Once a Jailbird" is set in Hamburg

[Tam]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It reminded me that a lot of the German novels that I have encountered have been through 'film' versions, or my absolute favourite one, a puppet version of 'Faust'! Berlin Alexanderplatz as a mini-series back in the 80's and of course the original 'Das Boot'. I have to give a shout out for Edgar Reitz's 'Heimat', particularly the early series. It had a surprising amount of cultural cross-over to life in early 20th century N Ireland to me.

I wonder what he will choose. He is not a fan of Nietzsche it seems. I must admit I found him very hard going, but sort of kind of refreshing, like having a very cold bath, painful whilst it was being experienced, but somehow invigorating in the aftermath.... I think I might give Heinrich Heine a go...

[Gpfr]

Gpfr wrote: "Tam wrote: "The sprog has asked me for recommendations for his trip through Germany in early July. He is going to Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg, and other places along the way..."

Before going to ..."

A series I like is Volker Kutscher's Gereon Rath crime novels.

[Andy]

A catch up from the last few days from me, starting with something I've had on the go at bedtime for the last couple of weeks. The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, Vol. 2 edited by James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle.

This is the second collection of horror stories from around the world from Valancourt, and as with the first, has a wide-ranging content from within the genre, and a good scattering around the globe.
By this nature they are bound to be a bit uneven in quality, and there is the question of taste.
Though I found there to be more to my liking in the first anthology, I really enjoyed reading all 21 here.
The editors, Jenkins and Cagle, (Jennings translates stories not previously available in English from 8 languages ain this book alone) compliment each other well in their research for stories. They have a healthy, or unhealthy some may see it, interest in the weird. The result is a collection eccentricities from around the planet, some completely off-the-wall, some based around classic themes, and just a few that may result in the book being hastily put down in shock.
Just a few of my own favourites,
Hargla’s “The Grain Dryer of Tammõküla” from Estonia, a folk horror tale about the destruction of traditional pagan beliefs and their detrimental incorporation into modern life, putting me in mind of the film, November.
Steinar Bragi’s “The Bell” from Iceland, with a strong sense of place,
and the highly unconventional Jayaprakash Satyamurthy’s “Shelter from the Storm” from India,

Interestingly Valancourt have announced that their third volume will include more work translated from endangered languages such as Viola Cadruvi’s “The Runner,” a short fable of eco-horror originally published in the endangered Swiss Romansh language.

[Andy]

and The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad

Set in the midst of the political unrest in Pakistan in the 1960s this is the drama of the life of Faraz Ali, the son of a 'kanjari' or prostitute, from Mohalla, a walled inner city that is part of the red-light district of Lahore.
Since his childhood though Faraz has made good, serving in the army, and now relatively high up in the police, having been taken under the wing by Wajid Sultan, the chief secretary of Punjab.
The structure of the story, which weaves between timelines back to Wajid and Faraz's formative days, is based around the murder of an 11 year old girl. Now Wajid, not for the first time dictating his fate from afar, sends Faraz back to Lahore, and installs him as head of the Mohalla police station, charging him with a particular mission, to cover up the violent killing. What appears to be a simple assignment soon has Faraz questioning his task. Old memories are awakened in him, and he discovers the murdered girl herself was a kanjari.

This is an excellent historical novel moving around between the Second World War in Libya and the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan. For me at least, it was a period I knew very little about. In effect, it is a good murder mystery where nothing is black and white and no-one completely innocent.
Ahmad draws her characters well. Corruption is rife, and it takes some time before the reader can decide who to side with.

[Andy]

scarletnoir wrote: "Thanks to all for their Muriel Spark recommendations - I'll very likely read one sometime in 2022.

Thanks also for the responses re. the mountain climbing expedition - I didn't expect such detaile..."

Not at all SN.
I think those who posted are interested by the comments of others.
Your question prompted it all.
They certainly interested me.

The book I reviewed is aimed more at those with a real fascination for the subject. But in order to account for why the expedition was poorly prepared, it is necessary to understand the background of the characters and the times they were living in - ie.. not a short answer..