Nikita Lalwani recommends In other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Nikita Lalwani’s first book, Gifted, appeared in 2007, was shortlisted for four major prizes, won one and praised for its forthright, tenderly amusing account of a young maths prodigy struggling to make her way in a disappointing world. Underpinning this gentle tale was a political acuity that would come to the fore in her second book, The Village, set in an open prison for murderers. Lalwani’s work bracingly explores “justice and privacy, power and powerlessness”, and it’s easy to see why the book she’s chosen proved such an inspiration.

“This is a precisely observed set of linked stories that detail class and inequality in Pakistan with Chekhovian tenderness and fury. I really admire the way in which it deals with perspective and privilege,” says Lalwani. Readers have been waiting for Daniyal Mueenuddin’s next book, such was the searing impression this collection of stories made when it appeared in 2009. Mohsin Hamid called it “a stunning achievement” and while many powerful voices have emerged from South Asia over the last 20 years, Mueenuddin’s nuanced account of overlapping worlds in Pakistan remains particularly memorable and indisputably unique. ©Alexi 2017 www.alexibooks.com

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, October 22nd, 2017