Kartography - by Kamila Shamsie (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Raheen and her best friend, Karim, share an idyllic childhood in upper-class Karachi. Their parents were even once engaged to each others' partners until they rematched in what they call "the fiancée swap." But as adolescence distances the friends, Karim takes refuge in maps while Raheen searches for the secret behind her parents' exchange. What she uncovers reveals not just a family's but a country's turbulent history-and a grown-up Raheen and Karim are caught between strained friendship and fated love.

A love story with a family mystery at its heart, Kartography is a dazzling novel by a young writer of astonishing maturity and exhilarating style. Shamsie transports us to a world we have not often seen in fiction-vibrant, dangerous, sensuous Pakistan. But even as she takes us far from the familiar, her story of passion and family secrets rings universally true.

From the Back Cover

"[Shamsie] packs her story with the playful evidence of her high-flying intelligence." -- San Francisco Chronicle
Raised together from birth, Raheen and her best friend Karim dream each other's dreams and finish each other's sentences. They share an idyllic childhood in upper-class Karachi with parents who are also best friends, even once engaged to the other until they rematched in what they jokingly call "the fiancee swap." But when Karim's family migrates from Pakistan to London, distance and adolescence split the friends apart. Karim takes refuge in the rationality of maps while Raheen searches for the secret behind her parents' exchange. She uncovers a story not just of a family's turbulent history but that of a country -- and finds herself poised between strained friendship and fated love with Karim.
"This 30-year-old has been described as a young Anita Desai, and her third book, about childhood, love, life and high society in Karachi during the turbulent 1990s is worth all the prepublication fuss." - Harper's Bazaar
Kamila Shamsie, author of two previous novels, has been twice shortlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys/Mail on Sunday Prize and named by the Orange Prize Futures as one of "21 writers for the 21st century. She lives in London and Karachi, and serves as Visiting Professor of English at Hamilton College.
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Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR KARTOGRAPHY "[Shamsie] packs her story with the playful evidence of her highflying intelligence." --San Francisco Chronicle "A gorgeous novel of perimeters and boundaries, of the regions-literal and figurative-in which we're comfortable moving about and those through which we'd rather not travel . . . Shamsie's wry humor infuses and quickens the narrative, leavening even the most serious scenes without detracting from their emotional weight." --Los Angeles Times "E. M. Forster's famous plea--'only connect'--reverberates passionately throughout this forceful tale of childhood, love and the power of story-telling." --The Independent "[In Kartography] words are used as vehicles conveying both emotions and intelligence, while at the same time - because the whole novel hinges on a secret that is hidden from the narrator--Shamsie knows that words aren't exactly everything, either." --The Guardian
"Deftly woven, provocative . . . Shamsie's blistering humor and ear for dialogue scorches through [a] whirl of whiskey and witticisms." --The Observer "The descriptions of Karachi were so graphic I could feel the heat and the tension emanating from the pages of the book...Gripping and thought-provoking." --BBC.com "A shimmering, quick-witted lament and love story...This is a complex novel, deftly executed and rich in emotional coloratura and wordplay." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "[Kartography] leaves you feeling wistful and touches some place in your heart you didn't even know existed...Even though the story came to a magnificent end yet you wish [Shamsie] hadn't finished the book." --The Rumpus --

About the Author

KAMILA SHAMSIE is the author of five novels: In the City by the Sea, Kartography (both shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Salt and Saffron, Broken Verses and Burnt Shadows, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and has been translated into more than 20 languages. She is a trustee of English PEN and Free Word, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and one of Granta's 20 Best Young British Writers of 2013. She grew up in Karachi and now lives in London.