Why Join?

  • Add New Books

  • Write a Review

  • Backpack Reading Lists

  • Monthly Newsletter

Join Now

In the City by the Sea

In the City by the Sea

Author(s): Kamila Shamsie

Location(s): Pakistan

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): Modern

Location

Content

Hasan is eleven years old. He loves cricket, pomegranates, the night sky, his clever, vibrant artistic mother and his etymologically obsessed lawyer father, and he adores his next-door neighbour Zehra. One early summer morning, while lazing happily on the roof, Hasan watches a young boy flying a yellow kite fall to his death. Soon after, Hasan’s idyllic, sheltered family life is shattered when his beloved uncle Salman, a dissenting politician, is arrested and charged with treason. Set in a land ruled by an oppresive military regime, this eloquent, charming and quietly political novel vividly recreates the confusing world of a young boy on the edge of adulthood, and beautifully illustrates the transformative power of the imagination.

Review this Book

To review this book, please

Log in

Book Reviews

Lead Review

‘A colourful and peripatetic view of politics in Pakistan … an interesting and promising novel’ — Guardian

Read review