Back Cover

'I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard. I am a lover of America . . .' At a Lahore caf one evening you meet a mysterious stranger. He asks you to join him for tea and, speaking impeccable English, he begins to tell you his story. It is the tale of how as a young man he went to America and embraced the Western dream and even took a Western lover. As the night darkens, you learn of the souring of his dream and his love, of his feelings of anger and betrayal. And finally the true reason for this chance meeting becomes abundantly clear . . . 'I closed the book with a shudder. Sharp, relevant, impressively intelligent. Entertains at the same time as it makes you think' Daily Telegraph

Author Biography

Mohsin Hamid writes regularly for The New York Times, the Guardian and the New York Review of Books, and is the author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Moth Smoke, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and Discontent and its Civilisations. Born and mostly raised in Lahore, he has since lived between Lahore, London and New York. His next novel, Exit West, will be published by Hamish Hamilton in spring 2017.

Review

Gripping... remains taut until the final pages...an elegant and sharp indictment of the clouds of suspicion that now shroud our world * Observer *
A quietly told, cleverly constructed fable of infatuation and disenchantment with America, set on the treacherous faultlines of current east/west relations, and finely tuned to the ironies of mutual - but especially American - prejudice and misrepresentation...increasingly tense...genuinely provocative...intelligent, highly engaging * Guardian *
Elegant, provocative . . . beautifully measured prose . . . a delicate meditation on the nature of perception and prejudice * Daily Mail *
Masterful . . . A multi-layered and thoroughly gripping book, which works as a poignant love story, a powerful dissection of how US imperialist machinations have turned so many people against the world's superpower - and as a thriller that subtly ratchets up the nerve-jangling tension towards an explosive ending * Metro *
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an important book * Evening Standard *
A fantastic piece of work, superbly considered and controlled, with a lovely stillness and wisdom at its heart * The Times *
Beautifully written -- Philip Pullman
A profoundly contemporary story about civil wars, unstable countries and refugees pouring to the cities of the West... beautifully written, with the ghost of Camus hovering at the edge of the frame * New Statesman *

Promotional

Mohsin Hamid's provocative, elegant and gripping novel, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time.

Prizes

Winner of South Bank Show Award for Literature 2008 (UK)
Winner of Ambassador Book Award 2008 (UK)
Winner of Asian American Literary Award 2008 (UK)
Short-listed for Decibel Award 2008 (UK)
Short-listed for International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2009 (UK)

Review Text

Gripping... remains taut until the final pages...an elegant and sharp indictment of the clouds of suspicion that now shroud our world

Review Quote

Beautifully written

Promotional "Headline"

Mohsin Hamid's provocative, elegant and gripping novel, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time

Details