“An hour and forty-five minutes before Nazneen’s life began–began as it would proceed for quite some time, that is to say uncertainly–her mother, Rupban, felt an iron fist squeeze her belly.” This is a 2003 novel from the writer Monica Ali, which was nominated and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It lost to a bad book, but I also don’t think it was the best remaining book. Anyway! The novel begins with Nazneen, a Bengali woman living in Dhaka. She finds out that her father […]