Stevie‘s review of This Green and Pleasant Land by Ayisha Malik
Contemporary Fiction published by Zaffre 13 Jun 19
I was greatly charmed by Ayisha Malik’s first novel, Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, although I’ve yet to pick up a copy of its immediate sequel. I have been keeping an eye out for more books by and about British Muslims that have a similar tone. This book fits that brief very nicely, although its central couple are a little older than Sofia and Conall, Their friends and families are just as quirky, to say nothing of the richly described surroundings in which they have chosen to live.
Bilal Hasham, his wife Mariam and Mariam’s son Haaris are the only Muslims in the Southern English village of Babbel’s End. They all play an active part in the community: Bilal runs an accountancy firm and attends meetings of the parish council, while Mariam writes articles for the local newspaper and Haaris attends the village school and takes part in fundraising towards a new bell for the less used of the village’s two churches. When they pay a visit to Birmingham to attend Bilal’s dying – and eccentric – mother, they are totally unprepared to hear her last wish: for Bilal to build a mosque in Babbel’s End.
Bilal is at first reluctant to follow the instruction, but over time he comes around to the idea and is unprepared for the uproar the plan creates when he suggests it at a meeting of the parish council. Soon all the village busybodies are organising petitions against the mosque, and some people are directing more overly hostile actions towards the Hasham family. Only the vicar and a very few of Bilal and Mariam’s neighbours are supportive of the idea, and their lives are further complicated when Bilal’s aunt has a fall and comes to stay with them while she recuperates. To cap it all, Mariam’s ex-husband – Haaris’ father – wants to be more involved in his son’s life, and Mariam begins to wonder if she made the right choice in marrying Bilal after her divorce.
Parts of this book reminded me of the late Canadian TV series, Little Mosque on the Prairie, although the Hashams face more adversity than I remember being directed towards the protagonists of those stories. Maybe the world is a more hostile place these days, but maybe also books like this can give everyone some pointers towards living alongside each other in harmony once again. Because, when faced with adversity from outside, the villagers do come together to solve bigger problems than that of the proposed mosque, and while not everyone is happy with the eventual outcome of Bilal’s proposition, the project does bring several couples in the village closer together.
I particularly loved Bilal’s aunt, Khala Rukhsana, and her attempts to make friends with people who not only spoke a different language to her, but also acted in ways she found very alien and at times unsettling. As always, I was also charmed by characters who turned out to be far less unpleasant than they made themselves out to be, and was greatly amused by all the tiny details of village life and neighbourly conflicts. All in all, a lovely book.
Grade: B
Summary:
‘Build them a mosque, beta. Build them a mosque.’
For years Bilal Hasham and his wife Mariam have lived contented, quiet lives in the sleepy rural village of Babbel’s End. Now all that is about to change.
On her deathbed, Bilal’s mother reaches for his hand. Instead of whispering her final prayers, she gives him a task: build a mosque in his country village.
Mariam is horrified by Bilal’s plan. His friends and neighbours are unnerved. As outrage sweeps Babbel’s End, battle lines are drawn. His mother’s dying wish reveals deeper divisions in their village than Bilal had ever imagined.
Soon Bilal is forced to choose between community and identity, between faith and friendship, between honouring his beloved mother’s last wish and preserving what is held dear in the place that he calls home.
Read an excerpt.
