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Timely, humorous and deeply moving . This is the absolute standout new novel by acclaimed author (and 2018 Asian Woman of Achievement nominee) Ayisha Malik

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The standout new novel by acclaimed author Ayisha Malik - perfect for fans of The Casual Vacancy , The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Middle England .

Everyone has a place they call home. But who gets to decide where you belong?

For years Bilal Hasham and his wife Mariam have lived contented, quiet lives in the sleepy rural village of Babbel´s End. Now all that is about to change.

On her deathbed, Bilal´s mother reaches for his hand. Instead of whispering her final prayers, she gives him a task: build a mosque in his country village.

Mariam is horrified by Bilal´s plan. His friends and neighbours are unnerved. As outrage sweeps Babbel´s End, battle lines are drawn. His mother´s dying wish reveals deeper divisions in their village than Bilal had ever imagined.

Soon Bilal is forced to choose between community and identity, between faith and friendship, between honouring his beloved mother´s last wish and preserving what is held dear in the place that he calls home.

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Occasionally a book comes along that perfectly captures the prevailing mood. Ayisha Malik´s third novel, about a Muslim family cosily embedded in the heart of middle-class white England, is a witty meditation on race politics, what it means to be British, and the complexities of personal identity. At the heart of this book lies the simple question: who decides to who and what we belong? When Bilal´s mother passes, bequeathing him with a death-bed wish that he build a mosque in the green and pleasant village of West Plimpington, she sets off a chain of events that soon brings the entire community to loggerheads. Bilal, a semi-tragic figure undermined by his own wavering convictions, unwittingly finds himself a lightning rod for the outrage of family, friends, colleagues, and, ultimately, all those who view change as threat. With laugh-out-loud moments of absurdist comedy, poignant observations of human nature, and philosophical musings on the wisdom and nature of ´fitting in´, this is Malik´s best work to date. Satirical, controversial, knowing and essential Vaseem Khan

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Malik, Ayisha
Ayisha Malik is a writer and editor, living in South London. She holds a BA in English Literature and a First Class MA in Creative Writing. Her novels Sofia Khan is Not Obliged and The Other Half of Happiness , starring ´the Muslim Bridget Jones´, were met with great critical acclaim, and Sofia Khan is Not Obliged was chosen as 2019´s Cityread book. Ayisha was a WHSmith Fresh Talent Pick, shortlisted for the Asian Women of Achievement Award and Marie Claire´s Future Shapers Awards. Ayisha is also the ghost writer for The Great British Bake Off winner, Nadiya Hussain.

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