Trespassing

Description

A world-class tale of love and deceit, rivalry and destiny from the Lahore-based writer Uzma Aslam Khan.

‘Standing in a room with eight thousand tiny creatures, witnessing them perform a dance that few humans even knew occurred; this was life. Everywhere she looked, each caterpillar nosed the air like a wand and out passed silk… When Dia watched one spin, she came closer to understanding the will of God than at any other time.’

Dia is the daughter of a silk farmer, Riffat – an innovative, decisive businesswoman. Like her mother, Dia seems at first sight unrestricted, spirited and resourceful. She seems free. But freedom has its own borders, patrolled by the covetous and the zealous, and there are those who yearn to jump the fence.

Daanish has come back to Karachi for his father’s funeral, all the way from America, a land where there are plenty of rules but few restrictions. When Dia and Daanish meet, they chafe against all the formalities. It is left to a handful of silkworms, slipped inside a friend’s dupatta, tickling skin, to rupture the fragile peace of both their houses – to make the space in which Dia and Daanish can create something together…

Back in Karachi for his father’s funeral, Daanish, a young Pakistani changed by his years at an American university, is entranced by Dia, a fiercely independent heiress to a silk factory in the countryside. Their illicit affair will forever rupture two households and three families, destroying a stable present built on the repression of a bloody past.

In this sweeping novel of modern Pakistan, Uzma Aslam Khan takes us from the stifling demands of tradition and family to the daily oppression of routine political violence, from the gorgeous sensual vistas of the silk farms to the teeming streets of Karachi–stinking, crumbling, and corrupt.

Reviews

“Trespassing sets the standard for a new generation of Pakistani novelists . . . Superlative.” — Sunday Times (U.K.)

“A startlingly fresh voice.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Riveting, examining issues of blind patriotism . . . [The] affair is torrid, and the details are sensual. . . . Khan’s prose is striking . . . gut-wrenching [and] surprisingly humorous–presenting a look at life in a country that remains an enigma.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“Khan tackles political and religious themes as adroitly as she handles the haunting love story . . . A brilliant, lush portrait of Karachi.” — Booklist

Author Biography

Uzma Aslam Khan was born in Lahore and grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. She is the author of five novels, including Trespassing, The Geometry of God, Thinner than Skin, and, most recently, The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali. Trespassing was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize Eurasia 2003. The Geometry of God was voted one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2009 and won a bronze medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2010. Thinner than Skin was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2012 and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2014. Her novels have been translated worldwide, including in Romania, Brazil, France, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Norway, and Sweden.

Khan’s work has appeared in numerous periodicals and journals worldwide, including Granta, The Massachusetts Review, The Guardian, Nimrod International Journal, and Counterpunch.

Uzma Aslam Khan grew up in Karachi. She has taught English language and literature in the United States, Morocco, and in Pakistan. Currently she works for an NGO in Lahore, where she lives with her husband.