Brick Lane
SynopsisPlot
After an arranged marriage to Chanu, a man twenty years older, Nazneen is taken to London, leaving her home and heart in the Bangladeshi village where she was born. Her new world is full of mysteries. How can she cross the road without being hit by a car (an operation akin to dodging raindrops in the monsoon)? What is the secret of her bullying neighbor Mrs. Islam? What is a Hell's Angel? And how must she comfort the naïve and disillusioned Chanu? As a good Muslim girl, Nazneen struggles to not question why things happen. She submits, as she must, to Fate and devotes herself to her husband and daughters. Yet to her amazement, she begins an affair with a handsome young radical, and her erotic awakening throws her old certainties into chaos.
Story
About this book
Nazneen arrives in London after an arranged marriage to Chanu, a man twenty years her senior. She has left her village in Bangladesh, and her new surroundings present constant puzzles, from crossing busy roads to reading the social codes of her housing estate. Her neighbor Mrs. Islam is a forceful presence, and Chanu, full of opinions, grows disappointed with his prospects in England. Nazneen raises their daughters and tends the household, taught by upbringing and faith to accept what comes.
Set across the 1980s and 1990s, the novel follows Nazneen as she discovers that the life handed to her is not the only one available. She begins a relationship with a younger man involved in local politics, and the pull between desire and duty unsettles her long discipline. Around her, Brick Lane in East London works as its own small world of work, religion, and unmet expectations.
Monica Ali's first novel was published in 2003. The story reaches back to Bangladesh through letters Nazneen exchanges with her sister Hasina, whose own life follows a very different course, so both countries remain present in the book from beginning to end.
