A haunting novel about a mother and son and the emotional consequences of leaving home
The matriarch Bilqis Khan, a widowed university professor, is dismayed when her only son Samad marries Kate, a white Australian woman, and settles in Melbourne rather than returning home to Pakistan. Though Samad attempts to convince his mother to join them in Australia, she insists on remaining in Karachi, presiding over the family's crumbling estate, even while tensions in the government are mounting, making the country progressively more dangerous. Meanwhile, Bilqis's devoted servant Mumtaz...