Kirjahaku

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.Brick Lane, a Level 6 Reader, is B1+ in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future continuous, reported questions, third conditional, was going to and ellipsis. A small number of illustrations support the text.When Nazneen is 18, she marries a much older man and moves from Bangladesh to England to be with her husband. But Brick Lane in London is very different from Nazneen's village, and she speaks no English. Nazneen must try to look after her family and get used to a new, and very strange, country.Visit the Penguin Readers websiteExclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

TWO CULTURES. TWO FAMILIES. TWO PEOPLE. The new novel from the bestselling, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of BRICK LANE _____________________________________ 'Exquisitely written with big-heartedness, intelligence and passion' RUTH JONES 'Funny, warm, powerful' DIANA EVANS 'Big-hearted, pitch-perfectly written, and utterly unputdownable' NEEL MUKHERJEE Yasmin Ghorami has a lot to be grateful for: a loving family, a fledgling career in medicine, and a charming, handsome fiancee, fellow doctor Joe Sangster. But as the wedding day draws closer and Yasmin's parents get to know Joe's firebrand feminist mother, both families must confront the unravelling of long-held secrets, lies and betrayals. As Yasmin dismantles her own assumptions about the people she holds most dear, she's also forced to ask herself what she really wants in a relationship and what a 'love marriage' actually means. Love Marriage is a story about who we are and how we love in today's Britain - with all the complications and contradictions of life, desire, marriage and family. What starts as a captivating social comedy develops into a heart-breaking and gripping story of two cultures, two families and two people trying to understand one another. 'Lit from end to end with storytelling brilliance' ANDREW O'HAGAN 'No one captures the modern family like Monica Ali. Love Marriage is full of surprises and unexpected twists, with an ending that will take your breath away' TAHMIMA ANAM 'A truly astonishing piece of writing - exquisite storytelling, featuring the most human portrayal of doctors I've ever read. I defy you to put this book down' ADAM KAY 'Every bit as compelling, as charming as Brick Lane. A joyous novelist at the peak of her formidable powers writing fresh lives into our literary tradition' DALJIT NAGRA A gloriously vibrant and tender novel packed with wit, intelligence and wisdom. Her two junior doctor protagonists are superbly drawn - flawed, courageous, flailing, human. Just brilliant' RACHEL CLARKE

TWO CULTURES. TWO FAMILIES. TWO PEOPLE. THE NEW INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF BRICK LANE _____________________________________ ‘Rich, sensitive and gloriously entertaining’ Tash Aw, Times Literary Supplement ‘An utterly unputdownable exploration of modern love’ Stylist ‘As engrossing and enjoyable as Brick Lane‘ Sunday Times Yasmin Ghorami has a lot to be grateful for: a loving family, a fledgling career in medicine, and a charming, handsome fiancée, fellow doctor Joe Sangster. But as the wedding day draws closer and Yasmin’s parents get to know Joe’s firebrand feminist mother, both families must confront the unravelling of long-held secrets, lies and betrayals. As Yasmin dismantles her own assumptions about the people she holds most dear, she’s also forced to ask herself what she really wants in a relationship and what a ‘love marriage’ actually means. Love Marriage is a story about who we are and how we love in today’s Britain – with all the complications and contradictions of life, desire, marriage and family. What starts as a captivating social comedy develops into a heart-breaking and gripping story of two cultures, two families and two people trying to understand one another.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELERA RICHARD AND JUDY PICKSHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE'Written with a wisdom and skill that few authors attain in a lifetime' Sunday TimesStill in her teenage years, Nazneen finds herself in an arranged marriage with a disappointed older man.

At the once-splendid Imperial Hotel, chef Gabriel Lightfoot is trying to run a tight kitchen. Despite the pressure, his hard work looks set to pay off. Until the discovery of a porter's dead body in the kitchen appears to tip the scales. In The Kitchen is Monica Ali's stunning follow up to Brick Lane.

"A book you won't be able to put down. A Bangladeshi immigrant in London is torn between the kind, tedious older husband with whom she has an arranged marriage (and children) and the fiery political activist she lusts after. A novel that's multi-continental, richly detailed and elegantly crafted." --Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Sisterland After an arranged marriage to Chanu, a man twenty years older, Nazneen is taken to London, leaving her home and heart in the Bangladeshi village where she was born. Her new world is full of mysteries. How can she cross the road without being hit by a car (an operation akin to dodging raindrops in the monsoon)? What is the secret of her bullying neighbor Mrs. Islam? What is a Hell's Angel? And how must she comfort the na ve and disillusioned Chanu? As a good Muslim girl, Nazneen struggles to not question why things happen. She submits, as she must, to Fate and devotes herself to her husband and daughters. Yet to her amazement, she begins an affair with a handsome young radical, and her erotic awakening throws her old certainties into chaos. Monica Ali's splendid novel is about journeys both external and internal, where the marvelous and the terrifying spiral together.

Following her National Book Critics Circle and Los Angeles Times Book Award-nominated, bestselling debut, Brick Lane, Monica Ali's splendid Alentejo Blue rewards readers with characters who etch themselves into one's memory (People). Set in a small Portuguese village, Alentejo Blue is a story of displacement and modernization told through the lives of the locals and of people who are just passing through. The residents of Mamarrosa whose ancestors occupy the graveyards are restless and struggle to make a living. They watch as tourists and expats move in. Monica Ali's characters are profoundly sympathetic. Her understanding of their dreams, desires, and disappointments is rare and moving. Alentejo Blue is evidence that Monica Ali is one of the most gifted voices of her generation.

This "mesmerizing" (Entertainment Weekly) novel from Booker Prize-shortlisted author Monica Ali brings us into the vivid world of a London restaurant. Gabriel Lightfoot, an enterprising man from a northern English mill town, is making good in London. As executive chef at the once-splendid Imperial Hotel, he aims to run a tight kitchen. Though he's under constant challenge from the competing demands of an exuberantly multinational staff, a gimlet-eyed hotel management, and business partners with whom he is secretly planning a move to a restaurant of his own, all Gabe's hard work looks set to pay off. Until, that is, a worker is found dead in the kitchen's basement. It is a small death, a lonely death--but it is enough to disturb the tenuous balance of Gabe's life. Enter Lena, an eerily attractive young woman with mysterious ties to the dead man. Under her spell, Gabe makes a decision, the consequences of which strip him naked and change the course of the life he knows--and the future he thought he wanted. With prose that "crackles with verve and vivacity" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) and "a truly Dickensian cast of characters" (The Buffalo News), Ali's "portrait of a middle-aged Holden Caulfield wandering the streets" (The Plain Dealer) is a sheer pleasure to read.

Named a Best Book of 2022 So Far by The New Yorker "Cultural clashes, political satire, Oedipal conflicts, elegant prose--they're all here in this romp of a book." --Oprah Daily A Phenomenal Book Club Pick and a New York Times Book Review Group Text Selection, Love Marriage is a glorious moving novel from Booker Prize shortlisted Monica Ali, who has "an inborn generosity that cannot be learned" (The New York Times Book Review). In present-day London, Yasmin Ghorami is twenty-six, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose formidable mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. The gulf between families is vast. So, too, is the gulf in sexual experience between Yasmin and Joe. As the wedding day draws near, misunderstandings, infidelities, and long-held secrets upend both Yasmin's relationship and that of her parents, a "love marriage," according to the family lore that Yasmin has believed all her life. A gloriously acute observer of class, sexual mores, and the mysteries of the human heart, Monica Ali has written a "riveting" (BookPage, starred review) social comedy and a moving, revelatory story of two cultures, two families, and two people trying to understand one another that's "sure to please Ali's fans and win some new ones" (Publishers Weekly).

Named a Best Book of 2022 So Far by The New Yorker "Cultural clashes, political satire, Oedipal conflicts, elegant prose--they're all here in this romp of a book." --Oprah Daily A Phenomenal Book Club Pick and a New York Times Book Review Group Text Selection, Love Marriage is a glorious moving novel from Booker Prize shortlisted Monica Ali, who has "an inborn generosity that cannot be learned" (The New York Times Book Review). In present-day London, Yasmin Ghorami is twenty-six, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose formidable mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. The gulf between families is vast. So, too, is the gulf in sexual experience between Yasmin and Joe. As the wedding day draws near, misunderstandings, infidelities, and long-held secrets upend both Yasmin's relationship and that of her parents, a "love marriage," according to the family lore that Yasmin has believed all her life. A gloriously acute observer of class, sexual mores, and the mysteries of the human heart, Monica Ali has written a "riveting" (BookPage, starred review) social comedy and a moving, revelatory story of two cultures, two families, and two people trying to understand one another that's "sure to please Ali's fans and win some new ones" (Publishers Weekly).

26-letnej Jasmin est za chto blagodarit sudbu: ee nedavno nachavshajasja karera v meditsine razvivaetsja uspeshno, u nee ljubjaschaja semja - roditeli i mladshij brat, ona gotovitsja k svadbe s umnym i krasivym Dzho, tozhe nachinajuschim vrachom, ee kollegoj. No posle znakomstva roditelej nevesty, ljudej konservativnykh vzgljadov, s materju zhenikha, izvestnoj pisatelnitsej i aktivnoj feministkoj, sobytija nachinajut razvivatsja neozhidannym i nepredskazuemym obrazom. Obe semi stalkivajutsja so svoimi "skeletami v shkafu", razlichiem vo vzgljadakh, nedoponimaniem, lozhju...Tjazhelo perezhivaja razlad v seme roditelej, Jasmin zadumyvaetsja nad tem, chego imenno khochet ona ot otnoshenij i chto zhe takoe na samom dele "brak po ljubvi".Eto ochen sovremennaja istorija o dvukh kulturakh, dvukh semjakh i dvukh molodykh ljudjakh, otchajanno pytajuschikhsja ponjat drug druga.

Yasmin Ghorami har mycket att vara tacksam för: en stor familj som älskar henne, en spirande läkarkarriär och en bra kille, Joe, som hon snart ska gifta sig med. Men när bröllopsdagen närmar sig och Yasmins föräldrar måste umgås med Joes feministiska mamma, konfronteras de båda familjerna och det unga paret med nedgrävda konflikter, outtalade behov och lögner, som utmanar allt det de tror sig veta om sig själva och varandra."Kärlek och tro" är en gripande berättelse om två kulturer, två familjer och två människor som försöker orientera såväl i tillvaron som i samvaron.

Monica Ali har utnämnts i Granta till en av Storbritanniens främsta författare 2003! "Monica Ali är en fantastisk berättare, och Brick Lane är fint utmejslad, djupt engagerande, skarp och ömsint." Meera Syal"En mycket speciell roman. Jag älskade den. Den uppfyller alla mina förväntningar på en roman, den tar mig till en annan värld och en kultur jag vet så lite om ... Underhållande, gripande och fascinerande." Margaret Forster "Underhållande och insiktsfull ... begåvad, tankeväckande och mogen." Hilary MantelBrick Lane är berättelsen om en ung kvinnas sökande efter lyckan. Nazneen födds i en liten by i Bangladesh där hon traditionsenligt uppfostras till en god muslimsk flicka. Hennes mor är en omtalad gråterska. Den kulturella och religiösa miljön samt landskapet, där en tornado endast på någon sekund kan jämna marken, sätter stark prägel på Nazneens uppväxt och hon formas till en ung kvinna med en fatalistisk inställning till livet. Nazneen gifts bort med Chanu, en dubbelt så gammal man bosatt i London. Tillsammans med sin nyblivne make flyttar Nazneen in i en lägenhet i ett kommunalt bostadsområde befolkad av immigranter från Bangladesh. Chanu är begåvad men oföretagsam och konstant frustrerad över sina misslyckade försök att komma någonstans i livet. Han tar avstånd från sina landsmän som han kallar "bönder", men lider samtidigt av sin självpåtagna ensamhet. Chanu drömmer om att som en framgångsrik man återvända i triumf till sitt hemland. Nazneen, å sin sida, drömmer om sitt barndomshem. Hon sköter hushållet och tar hand om deras lille son exemplariskt, och kämpar ständigt för att bibehålla sitt ideal som god och skötsam maka och mor och för att med sinnesro acceptera sin lott i livet. Men inom henne pyr upproriska känslor av missbelåtenhet. Vändpunkten kommer när den lille sonen blir allvarligt sjuk. Nazneen upptäcker både glädjen över av att vara behövd, att hennes man besitter goda egenskaper, att han trots allt, likt henne söker en plats i tillvaron. Men sonen dör och Nazneen återgår till sitt vanliga begränsade liv. Vardagen består av att fostra de döttrar Gud ger henne, be och damma, med avbrott för skvaller och gemenskap med de andra mödrarna i området. Balansen rubbas än en gång när Nazneen tar anställning som maskinist och möter Karim en ung man som väcker nya känslor till liv. Det sociala missnöjet växer i området, spänningen i familjen ökar, möjligheten som både är ett löfte och ett hot att återvända till Bangladesh ser ut att bli verklighet. Nazneen tvingas att ta sitt öde i egna händer. Genom boken får man följa brevväxlingen mellan Nazneen och hennes syster Hasina, som lever i Dhaka efter att ha skilt sig från en man hon själv valt. Hasina söker likaså hon lyckan, men sökandet leder till skillnad från Nazneens som fokuserar på det inre planet henne ut i världen där hon ständigt stöter på motgångar. Brick Lane tar upp många stora frågor den kulturella förvirringen som uppstår när man slits mellan två världar, konflikten mellan första och andra generationens invandrare, ilskan och frustrationen över att vara en minoritet, det stora gapet mellan i- och u-länderna, miljön och naturens påverkan på hur vårt liv formas. Men mest av allt handlar de n om de val vi gör och om dessa val kan hjälpa oss på vägen till att finna lyckan.Monica Ali, född 1967 i Dhaka, har en engelsk mor och en bangladeshisk far. När inbördeskriget bröt ut flydde Monica, hennes mor och bror till England. Fadern anlände ett år senare och familjen bosatte sig i Bolton i norra England. Efter studier i filosofi, ekonomi och politik i Oxford arbetade Monica Ali i förlagsbranschen. Monica Ali bor i London tillsammans med sin sambo och två barn. Brick Lane är Monica Alis uppmärksammade debutroman. Det tog henne ett år att skriva romanen från den första skissen av persongalleriet till det första utkastet. Det finns fyra olika infallsvinklar. Den första är Monicas egen bakgrund och känslan av att aldrig höra hemma någonstans, men också förmånen att kunna blicka in två olika kulturer. Den andra är den muntliga bangladeshiska berättartradition hennes far har hållit vid liv. Den tredje är en bok om bangladeshiska kvinnliga konfektionsarbetare i Dhaka och Londons East End. Och slutligen de upplopp som härjade i ett antal städer i norra England förra sommaren, då unga pakistanier och bangladeshier drabbade samman med polisen.