Nazneen's inauspicious entry to the world, an apparent stillbirth on the hard mud floor of a Bangladeshi village hut, imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents when she is married off to Chanu. Her life in London's Tower Hamlets is, on the surface, calm. For years, keeping house and rearing children, she does what is expected of her. Yet Nazneen walks a tightrope stretched between her daughters' embarrassment and her husband's resentments. Chanu calls his elder daughter the little memsahib. 'I didn't ask to be born here,' says Shahana, with regular finality. Into that fragile peace walks Karim. He sets questions before her, of longing and belonging; he sparks in her a turmoil that reflects the community's own; he opens her eyes and directs her gaze - but what she sees, in the end, comes as a surprise to them both. While Nazneen journeys along her path of self-realization, a way haunted by her mother's ghost, her sister Hasina, back in Bangladesh, rushes headlong at her life, first making a 'love marriage', then fleeing her violent husband. Woven through the novel, Hasina's letters from Dhaka recount a world of overwhelming adversity. Shaped - yet ultimately not bound - by their landscapes and memories, both sisters struggle to dream themselves out of the rules prescribed for them. Beautifully rendered and, by turns, both comic and deeply moving, Brick Lane establishes Monica Ali as one of the most exciting new voices in fiction.
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Used availability for Monica Ali's Brick Lane
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
June 2004 : Library Binding
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 1-4176-6336-7 / 978-1-4176-6336-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Topeka Bindery Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
April 2004 : Hardback
| Title: Brick Lane (Windsor Selection) Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-7540-8730-1 / 978-0-7540-8730-4 (UK edition) Publisher: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
December 2003 : Hardback
| Title: Brick Lane (Thorndike Core) Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-7862-6018-1 / 978-0-7862-6018-8 (USA edition) Publisher: Thorndike Press Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
August 2003 : Hardback
| Title: Brick Lane: A Novel Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-7432-4330-7 / 978-0-7432-4330-8 (USA edition) Publisher: Scribner Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
June 2003 : Hardback
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-385-60484-X / 978-0-385-60484-0 (USA edition) Publisher: Doubleday Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
January 2003 : Hardback
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-7540-9390-5 / 978-0-7540-9390-9 (UK edition) Publisher: Thorndike Press Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
Paperback Editions
March 2008 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane: A Novel Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 1-4165-8407-2 / 978-1-4165-8407-0 (USA edition) Publisher: Scribner Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
October 2007 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-552-77445-6 / 978-0-552-77445-1 (UK edition) Publisher: Black Swan Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
January 2007 : Perfect Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane. Film Tie-In Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-552-77455-3 / 978-0-552-77455-0 (UK edition) Publisher: Transworld Publ. Ltd UK Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
May 2004 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane: A Novel Author(s): Monica Ali Publisher: Scribner Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
May 2004 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-552-77115-5 / 978-0-552-77115-3 (UK edition) Publisher: Black Swan Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
May 2004 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-552-77252-6 / 978-0-552-77252-5 (UK edition) Publisher: Black Swan Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
May 2004 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane: A Novel Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-7432-4331-5 / 978-0-7432-4331-5 (USA edition) Publisher: Scribner Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
October 2003 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-552-15159-9 / 978-0-552-15159-7 (UK edition) Publisher: Transworld Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
September 2003 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane. Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-7432-6066-X / 978-0-7432-6066-4 (USA edition) Publisher: Simon + Schuster Inc. Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
2003 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-385-60485-8 / 978-0-385-60485-7 (USA edition) Publisher: Doubleday & Company Inc. Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
2003 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-385-60673-7 / 978-0-385-60673-8 (USA edition) Publisher: Doubleday Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
1980 : Paperback
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali Publisher: NY Availability: Amazon More details... |
Audio Editions
September 2003 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 1-56511-828-6 / 9781565118287 (USA edition) Publisher: HighBridge Audio Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
September 2003 : Audio CD
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 1-56511-829-4 / 9781565118294 (USA edition) Publisher: Highbridge Audio Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
August 2003 : Audio CD
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-00-717689-9 / 978-0-00-717689-2 (UK edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Audio Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
June 2003 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-00-717121-8 / 978-0-00-717121-7 (UK edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Audio Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Other Editions
August 2008 : Unknown
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-00-729383-6 / 978-0-00-729383-4 (UK edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
May 2006 : Unknown
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-00-721951-2 (UK edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
June 2005 : Unknown
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali ISBN: 0-00-721952-0 (UK edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
January 2004 : Kindle edition
| Title: Brick Lane Author(s): Monica Ali Publisher: Scribner Availability: Amazon More details... |
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