“It’s hard not to write in superlatives of this extraordinary novel; it combines great intelligence (digressions on mathematics and philosophy) with a global story of love, alienation and belonging which moves vividly between South Kensington, the tiny excruciating details of Oxford racism and snobbery to the breathtaking drama of a catastrophic train crash in Bangladesh and on to the frenzied world of NGOs in Kabul in the wake of the Afghanistan invasion. Every paragraph takes you somewhere different – challenging you intellectually and emotionally with a sharp elegance: ”Everything seen by the west is seen through the west,” writes Rahman. There is no better guide to how empires don’t always end, more often simply changing shape and strategy to ensure continued dominance.”
Madeleine Bunting
The Guardian