A special event with the author of the Commonwealth Prize-winning A Case Of Exploding Mangoes. 

Mohammed Hanif returns to the UK with a remarkable new novel set in the febrile streets of downtown Karachi, in the dilapidated Sacred Heart Hospital for All Ailments.

Alice Bhatti is a candidate for the position of Junior Nurse and fresh from a Borstal youth detention centre. Soon, she is bringing succour to the thousands of patients littering the hospital’s corridors and concrete courtyard. In the process she attracts the attention of a lovesick patient, Teddy Bunt, apprentice to the nefarious ‘Gentleman Squad’ of the Karachi police. They fall in love: Teddy with sudden violence, Alice with cautious optimism.

She soon finds that her new life is built on foundations as unstable as those of her home. A Catholic snubbed by other Catholics – who are in turn hated by everyone around them – she is also put at risk by her husband, who does two things that no member of the Gentlemen Squad has ever done – fall in love with a working girl, and allow a potentially dangerous suspect to get away.

Join Mohammed Hanif as he discusses his latest work and reads from the book, in conversation with journalist, author and broadcaster Sarfraz Manzoor.

In association with the Royal Commonwealth Society.

(Reserve your tickets by contacting rsvp@southasianlitfest.com)