An Abundance of Wild Roses - by Feryal Ali-Gauhar (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A UK debut by a critically acclaimed author - a novel that combines lyrical storytelling with urgent contemporary themes of gender violence, tradition and patriarchy

In the Black Mountains of Pakistan, the discovery of an unconscious, unknown man is the first snowball in an avalanche of chaos. The head of the village is beset with problems - including the injured stranger - and failing to find his way out. His daughter receives a love letter and incurs her father's wrath. A lame boy foretells disaster, but nobody is listening. Trapped in terrible danger, a wolf-dog is battling ice and death to save a soldier's life. Beaten by her addict husband for bearing him only daughters, a woman is pregnant again - but can this child save her?

As the elements turn on the village, can humanity find a way to co-exist with nature that doesn't destroy either of them?

Review Quotes

"Praise for No Space for Further Burials: In No Space for Further Burials, Feryal Ali Gauhar has crafted a novel of unrelenting truth held in transcendent prose and an exquisite grace. There is no easy redemption here, but there is light and more light"--CHRIS ABANI

"Praise for The Scent of Wet Earth in August: The Scent of Wet Earth in August was widely acclaimed across the globe . . . it blends Ali Gauhar's filmmaking sensibilities . . . the relentless experience of loss, of the endangered lives of the moral "others" - the outcasts in the much loved and hated red-light district of Lahore"-- "Friday Times"

"An Abundance of Wild Roses will leave you breathless . . . There is a deep and poetic sadness in Feryal Ali-Gauhar's writing [and she] writes with compassion"-- "Dawn"

"An unbearably beautiful book, one you will not soon forget. . . . What Gauhar shows us is that in a war there are only those who die and those who survive, and sometimes even those lines get blurred. And that's what keeps you hungrily turning the pages"--RADHIKA JHA

"Compelling"-- "Natura by WWF"

"Deeply perceptive and immensely readable tale of decaying poverty yet to come to terms with modernity, yet full of warmth, life and gusto . . . The rich kaleidoscope of Lahore's life emerging from the book astonishes us . . . The book is as welcome as the scent of wet earth in August"-- "Deccan Chronicle"

"Exceptionally well-told . . . Feryal writes with complete passion and dedication about her central themes - feminism, environmentalism and the elements that must be respected about dissimilar cultures"-- "Friday Times"

"Feryal Ali-Gauhar's writing helps us see the world as she does - clearly. To see how human beings are both awful and kind, and how often animals are far kinder than humans, and to feel the mountains and the rivers and the wind speak to you. But above all, this is a story that helps you understand the greatest mystery of all: love"--RADHIKA JHA

"In writing through the eyes of an American captive in Afghanistan, Feryal Ali Gauhar has fashioned a fascinating two-way mirror in which we see the author creating an Other confronting Otherness. As in Richard Powers's hostage novel Ploughing in the Dark, the mask of character reveals as much as it conceals"-- "STEWART O'NAN"

"Lyrical"-- "Camden New Journal"

About the Author

Feryal Ali-Gauhar's first novel, The Scent of Wet Earth in August, was a bestseller in India, her second novel, No Space for Further Burials, won the Patras Bokhari award and was translated into several European languages. Her third novel, An Abundance of Wild Roses, was written with the assistance of the Roger Deakin award for environmental activism. Ali-Gauhar has served as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Population Fund. She is an actor, film-maker, columnist, novelist, animal rights activist and currently serves as Advisor at the Water and Power Development Authority of Pakistan for cultural heritage management of Diamer Bhasha Dam.