Kirjahaku

Why did a Hercules C130, the world's sturdiest plane, carrying Pakistan's military dictator General Zia ul Haq, go down on 17 August, 1988? Was it because of: mechanical failure, human error, the CIA's impatience, a blind woman's curse or Generals not happy with their pension plans. This novel takes one of the subcontinent's enduring mysteries.

Junior nurse, ex-prisoner and part-time healer Alice Bhatti is looking for a job. With guidance from the working nurse's manual, and some tricks she picked up in prison, Alice starts work at the crowded hospital bringing help to the thousands of patients littering the corridors.

A Washington Post, Rocky Mountain News, Boston Globe Best Book of the Year Intrigue and subterfuge combine with bad luck and good in this darkly comic debut about love, betrayal, tyranny, family, and a conspiracy trying its damnedest to happen. Ali Shigri, Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of the Fury Squadron, is on a mission to avenge his father's suspicious death, which the government calls a suicide.Ali's target is none other than General Zia ul-Haq, dictator of Pakistani. Enlisting a rag-tag group of conspirators, including his cologne-bathed roommate, a hash-smoking American lieutenant, and a mango-besotted crow, Ali sets his elaborate plan in motion. There's only one problem: the line of would-be Zia assassins is longer than he could have possibly known.

Mohammed Hanif delivers a shockingly funny new novel set in steaming Karachi, about second chances, thwarted ambitions and love found in the most unlikely places. The patients of the Sacred Heart Hospital for All Ailments need a miracle. Alice Bhatti may be just what they're looking for. She's the daughter of a part-time healer in the French Colony, Karachi's infamous Christian slum, and it seems she has, unhappily, inherited his part-time gift. With a bit of begrudging but inspired improvisation, Alice begins to bring succor to the hospital's overflowing patients. But all is not miraculous. Alice is a Christian in an Islamic world, ensnared in the red tape of hospital bureaucracy, trapped by the caste system, and torn between her patients, her father and her husband--who is about to drag Alice into a situation so dangerous that perhaps not even a miracle will be able to save them.

An American pilot crash lands in the desert and finds himself on the outskirts of the very camp he was supposed to bomb. After days spent wandering and hallucinating from dehydration, Major Ellie is rescued by one of the camp's residents, a teenager named Momo, whose entrepreneurial money-making schemes are failing as his family is falling apart: His older brother, Ali, left for his first day of work at an American base and never returned; his parents are at each other's throats; his dog, Mutt, is having a very bad day; and an earthy-crunchy aid worker has shown up wanting to research him for her book on the Teenage Muslim Mind. Amidst the madness, Momo sets out to search for his brother Ali, hoping his new Western acquaintances might be able to help find him. But as the truth of Ali's whereabouts begin to unfold, the effects of American "aid" on this war-torn country are revealed to be increasingly pernicious. Written with his trademark wit and keen eye for absurdity, and revealing critical truths about the state of the world today, Red Birds shows master storyteller Mohammed Hanif at the height of his powers.

A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR'A thrilling, razor-sharp critique of US foreign policy … Red Birds is an incisive, unsparing critique of war and of America’s role in the destruction of the Middle East. It combines modern and ancient farcical traditions in thrilling way' Guardian________________American pilot Major Ellie has crashed his plane in the middle of a desert. Lucky for him there’s room for him at the very refugee camp he was supposed to bomb. Teenage Momo doesn’t see it that way: the camp is a trap, not a refuge. His brother’s missing, his parents are in a rage, and an aid worker won’t stop trying to interview him for her book on the Teenage Muslim Mind. Savage, irreverent and deliciously dark, Red Birds is a masterful unravelling of intertwined fates in a forgotten war-scape – and a brilliant satire about satire about the absurdity of war and the impossibility of peace.'Funny, dark, compassionate and angry' Daily Telegraph'The funniest tragedy I've read in years' Hanif Kureishi'A blistering, savage, tragicomic satire about the cruelty of war and the impossibility of peace' The Times

When a major Pakistani political figure is hanged, OK Town erupts in protest. A few miles away, Sir Baghi is surprised by a knock at the door of his language school, the Rebel English Academy. An unexpected visitor, Sabiha, seeks refuge - but she has a gun, her parents are political prisoners, her husband has just died in a suspicious fire and she's clearly hiding something. Meanwhile Captain Gul, disgraced intelligence officer, has been banished to OK Town, where he aims to silence protesters by any means necessary. But his duties - and romantic desires - begin to overlap, and his already-dubious power is further threatened. In Rebel English Academy, we see Pakistan coming into modernity through a vibrant cast of interconnected characters that face a changing landscape with violence, passion and sharp humour. Wry, searing and deeply relevant, this is a triumphant novel about political power, religion, education, sexuality and dissent.