Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A story which reflects Pakistan’s past and present in a single mirror.
The Golden Legend
What you need to know before your trail
When shots ring out on the Grand Trunk Road, Nargis’s life begins to crumble around her. Her husband, Massud – a fellow architect – is caught in the crossfire and dies before she can confess to him her greatest secret. Under threat from a powerful military intelligence officer, who demands that she pardon her husband’s American killer, Nargis fears that the truth about her past will soon be exposed. For weeks someone has been broadcasting people’s secrets from the minarets of the city’s mosques and, in a country where the accusation of blasphemy is a currency to be bartered, the mysterious broadcasts have struck fear in Christians and Muslims alike.
Against this background of violence and fear, two outsiders – the young Christian woman Helen and the mysterious Imran from Kashmir – try to find an island of calm in which their love can grow.
Travel Guide
Travel BookTrail style around Pakistan
The novel is set in various places in Pakistan, and a major character lives in Kashmir. This is a novel about war, division and diversity in all its forms.
The main focus of the city’s diversity and of the wider Pakistani society, involves both the Muslim community and the minority Christian community. What makes this novel shine is its very powerful visual imagery and the prose and plot which appears to come heavily influenced steeped in Eastern storytelling traditions.
“She thought of the boy thrown into the cauldron of war, the girl beset by various bigotries, her life in danger, and saw how unjust it all was…”
And then this line:
“Pakistan produces people of extraordinary bravery, but no country should ever expect their citizens to be this brave.”
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Golden Legend
Destination: Karachi, Pakistan Author/Guide: Nadeem Aslam Departure Time: 2000s
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