Another Gulmohar Tree - Softcover

Aamer Hussein

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846590566 ISBN 13: 9781846590566

Publisher: Telegram Books, 2009

Synopsis

Usman is visiting post-war London from Pakistan when he meets a young aspiring artist called Lydia who has, like himself, come out of an unhappy marriage.

Just as the lonely strangers' friendship begins to blossom into something deeper Usman has to return to Karachi, leaving Lydia behind.

Two years later, Lydia impulsively abandons her life in London and boards a ship to Karachi, where the two are married. But as the years flit by Usman feels distanced from his life and realises that he hasn't noticed the buds of the gulmohar tree unfurl.

A beautiful account of a marriage that is in turns wry and unashamedly romantic.

About this title

Review:

'We are lucky to have Hussein among us, telling us stories as few can, with his particular mixture of deep love, understanding, and sadness.' Amit Chaudhuri

'Aamer Hussein is doing something quite original in his fiction. He explores the meetings of cultures, but he is no sociologist. He fuses elements of folk tales and mythology into his work, but is not a magic realist. His characters live human lives, both creatures of their societies and individual men and women who love and work, marry and raise children, highly conscious of their hopes and limitations. At the end of this book, in the almost Tolstoyan portrait of the family gathered together, Aamer Hussein shows that he has the rare gift of expressing enduring and radiant happiness.' William Palmer, Independent

'Another Gulmohar Tree offers an exploration of life and love but rersists reassuring solutions. Just as Usman dislikes the younger poets who write optimistically about Pakistan's 'New Dawn and the Blessed Golden Soil of the Promised land',so Hussein refuses to indulge in sentimental narratives of the individual or nation. We do however glimpse some light. Hussein encourages us to reflect on what belonging might really mean. Through Lydia, we learn that the enchanting gulmohar tree is not native to Pakistan, but is 'a transplant' from Madagascar. Usman becomes aware that he has ceased to notice both its glittering scarlet blossom in his garden and the laughter and love of his wife. He recalls the words of the great Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib: 'The vision of a flower teaches the eye to rejoice in every colour'. Readers of Hussein's precise prose in this quietly melancholy novel will be similarly rewarded.' Lara Pawson, TLS

'The Gulmohar or 'flame-coin' tree appears rooted in the soil of the Indian subcontinent. It is in fact a transplant, making it the perfect symbol for this tale about an Anglo-Asian marriage spanning decades and continents. Framed in distilled prose, this is a moving fable about the slow and sometimes starling growth of love. A slender delight.' --Adrian Turpin, Financial Times

"The Gulmohar or 'flame-coin' tree appears rooted in the soil of the Indian subcontinent. It is in fact a transplant, making it the perfect symbol for this tale about an Anglo-Asian marriage spanning decades and continents. Framed in distilled prose, this is a moving fable about the slow and sometimes starling growth of love. A slender delight." --Adrian Turpin, Financial Times

"Another Gulmohar Tree offers an exploration of life and love but rersists reassuring solutions. Just as Usman dislikes the younger poets who write optimistically about Pakistan's 'New Dawn and the Blessed Golden Soil of the Promised land',so Hussein refuses to indulge in sentimental narratives of the individual or nation. We do however glimpse some light. Hussein encourages us to reflect on what belonging might really mean. Through Lydia, we learn that the enchanting gulmohar tree is not native to Pakistan, but is 'a transplant' from Madagascar. Usman becomes aware that he has ceased to notice both its glittering scarlet blossom in his garden and the laughter and love of his wife. He recalls the words of the great Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib: 'The vision of a flower teaches the eye to rejoice in every colour'. Readers of Hussein's precise prose in this quietly melancholy novel will be similarly rewarded." --Lara Pawson, TLS

About the Author:

Aamer Hussein was born in Karachi in 1955 and moved to London in his teens. He is the author of Mirror to the Sun, This Other Salt, Turquoise and Insomnia, and the editor of Kahani. He reviews regularly for The Independent, lectures at the University of Southampton and the Institute of English Studies (University of London) and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

About this edition

• Publisher: Telegram Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1846590566
• ISBN 13: 9781846590566
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 111