The Maliks live a life of relative freedom in 1970s Karachi: Four beautiful sisters, Maria, Ayesha, Leila and Beena, are warily watched over by an unconventional mother. Captain Malik is usually away and so the women forge the rules of their own universe, taking in a few men: Amir, the professor who falls in love with Maria and Jamal or Jimmy, the neighbor who tells this tale. The curious young man is drawn in by all four sisters and particularly by rebellious Ayesha. But slowly, it becomes clear he will never completely penetrate their circle—just as they will never completely move with the tide that swirls so potently around them. In the quietly seething world of This Wide Night, Virgin Suicides meets Little Women in Pakistan. Moving from Karachi to London and finally to the rain-drenched island of Manora, here is a compelling new novel from the subcontinent—and a powerful debut to watch.
Author
Sarvat Hasin is from Pakistan. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. Her first novel, This Wide Night, was published by Penguin India and longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her second book You Can’t Go Home Again was published in 2018 and featured in Vogue India’s and The Hindu’s end of year lists. She won the Moth Writer’s Retreat Bursary in 2018 and the Mo Siewcharran Prize in 2019. Her essays and poetry have appeared in publications such as Outsiders, The Mays Anthology, English PEN, and Harper’s Bazaar. She lives in London and works at the Almeida Theatre. Her new novel, The Giant Dark, is a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is forthcoming from Dialogue Books on the 8th of July
