In the City by the Sea

_______________'Full of fun, longing and wit … a debut of spirit and imagination, loaded with intelligent charm' - Ali Smith'A touching and engrossing story … an assured debut' - The Times'A colourful and peripatetic view of politics in Pakistan … an interesting and promising novel' - Guardian_______________BY THE ACCLAIMED WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN LLEWELLYN RHYS PRIZE_______________Hasan is eleven years old.

He loves cricket, pomegranates, the night sky, his clever, vibrant artistic mother and his etymologically obsessed lawyer father, and he adores his next-door neighbour Zehra.

One early summer morning, while lazing happily on the roof, Hasan watches a young boy flying a yellow kite fall to his death.

Soon after, Hasan's idyllic, sheltered family life is shattered when his beloved uncle Salman, a dissenting politician, is arrested and charged with treason...

Set in a land ruled by an oppressive military regime, this eloquent, charming and quietly political novel vividly recreates the confusing world of a young boy on the edge of adulthood, and beautifully illustrates the transformative power of the imagination.