Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Monica Ali was selected as one of Granta’s “Best Young British Novelists 2003”. Her story of Nazneen’s beginnings in Bangladesh, her arranged marriage to a man much older than herself and her new life in Tower Hamlets led to a short-listing for several prizes that year, including the Booker prize.

This is a sharply-observed contemporary novel and deals with issues of love and with cultural and generational differences. Nazneen, speaking no English is at first completely dependent on her husband, but it becomes apparent that, of the two, she is the real survivor. Moving, yet often very funny, it’s an opportunity to venture into a life and culture many of us can know little about.