Brick Lane

This volume follows the life of Nazneen, a women born into a Bangladesh village. At the age of 18, Nazneen is sent to England in an arranged marriage with a 40 year old man who works for the local council. There she must come to terms with her mother’s death, regain a relationship with her sister and find her own future.

The author paints a picture of life of the east end of London. She describes the friends that Nazneen makes, and the other people who emerge to play a part in her live and that of her husband. There is Mrs Islam who lends money as usurious rates, Dr Azad who appears as all-powerful, but who they discover with shock to have a very untraditional Bengali family, and Razia who is young like herself and slightly more assimilated into the English way of life. From her flat on a council estate, Nazneen follows the story of her sister who ran away to Dhaka in a love marriage in Bangladesh only to leave her husband when he beats her.

As Nazneen raises her own two children in England so she begins to find new opportunities for herself. She lives with her husband and his growing frustration with the discrimination in his council job. She accepts her role as wife but begins to look for something more. Work as a seamstress when her husband is out driving leads to an affair with the man who brings the material. Karim is actively involved in establishing a group for Muslim rights and culture, and the anti-racist politics of the 1990s become a further medium to explore Nazneen’s own emerging identity.

This book has been the subject of some controversy for the correctness of the picture it draws of this migrant community. The author argues that she does not have these pretensions; this is simply a fictional story of one women’s life and search for identity and belonging. The emerging story is strongly located in the urban neighbourhoods of the east end of London.