Maps for Lost Lovers, Nadeem Aslam

At the heart of this extraordinary novel lies the character of Kaukab, a wife and mother increasingly out of touch with those she loves most: her homeland, her husband and her three increasingly estranged and westernised children. Her faith in her religion and family is her only support. The disappearance of her brother-in-law Jugnu and his lover Chanda and their suspected murder forms the dramatic backdrop for a year of turmoil in the life of Kaukab's splintering family. Maps for Lost Lovers opens the heart of a family at the crossroads of culture, community, nationality and religion, and expresses both their joys and their pain in a language that is arrestingly poetic.