Minaret Leila Aboulela by Leila Aboulela 9780802199249, 0802199240 instant download after payment.

Leila Aboulela's American debut is a provocative, timely, and engaging novel about a young Muslim woman - once privileged and secular in her native land and now impoverished in London - gradually embracing her orthodox faith.

"Her prose moves with the steady pace of someone who knows her faith, and knows she must not falter. . . . Often delicate and evocative."  -  Jonathan Falla, The Scotsman

With her Muslim hijab and down-turned gaze, Najwa is invisible to most eyes, especially to the rich families whose houses she cleans in London. Twenty years ago, Najwa, then at university in Khartoum, would never have imagined that one day she would be a maid. An upper-class Westernized Sudanese, her dreams were to marry well and raise a family. But a coup forces the young woman and her family into political exile in London. 

Soon orphaned, she finds solace and companionship within the Muslim community. Then Najwa meets Tamer, the intense, lonely younger brother of her employer. They find a common bond in faith and slowly, silently, begin to fall in love.

"The narrative is tranquil and lyrical... Aboulela describes the uncertainty and terror of the country's westernized elite in the 80s, and assembles a persuasive description of why fundamentalist politics emerged... In a narrative of complex reversals, Aboulela takes a huge risk in describing her heroine's religious conversion and spiritual dedication. She succeeds brilliantly. This is a beautiful, daring, challenging novel."    -  Mike Phillips, The Guardian (UK)

Written with directness and force, Minaret is a lyrical and insightful novel about Islam and an alluring glimpse into a culture Westerners are only just beginning to understand.