Synopses & Reviews
As young widow Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she might be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming, her children are almost grown, and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air.
But none of the guests at Rehana's party can foresee what will happen in the days and months ahead. For this is 1971 in East Pakistan, a country on the brink of war. And this family's life is about to change forever.
Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence, A Golden Age is a story of passion and revolution, of hope, faith and unexpected heroism. In the chaos of this era, everyone--from student protesters to the country's leaders, from rickshaw'wallahs to the army's soldiers--must make choices. And as she struggles to keep her family safe, Rehana will be forced to face a heartbreaking dilemma.
Review
“A glittering debut…Readers of Khaled Hosseinis brutal but magnificent A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS will find similar pleasures in Anams book.” St. Petersburg Times
Review
“In this striking debut novel . . . Anam deftly weaves the personal and the political, giving the terrors of war spare, powerful treatment while lyrically depicting the way in which the struggle for freedom allows Rehana to discover both her strength and her heart.” The New Yorker
Review
“An impressive debut...Rehanas metamorphosis encapsulates her countrys tragedy and makes for an immersive, wrenching narrative.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
“[A] wonderful addition to the growing list of novels that seek, in some way, to help us understand the history and people of South Asia.” USA Today
Review
“Written with marvelous control and understatement, this first novel impressed me with its maturity.” Women's Review of Books
Review
“Compelling…Anam is cracking open secrets, personal and political, to let the healing begin.” O magazine
Review
“Told with great skill and urgency…Spellbinding in its sense of quiet foreboding…Anam has written a story about powerful events. But it is her descriptions of the small, unheralded moments, the ones slipping effortlessly between the interstices of major conflagrations, which truly touch the heart.” San Francisco Chronicle
Review
“eventful, exotic, intelligent, and romantic” Entertainment Weekly
Review
“An illumination on how far a woman will go to protect her childrens bodies and souls . . . Anam reminds us most forcefully that a mothers love for her child is the most powerful and frightening weapon there is.” Minneapolis Star Tribune
Review
“Readable and well crafted . . . Compelling . . . A generous act of creative empathy . . . Anam does not flinch from complexity and horror of a more intimate nature than the details of atrocities.” Washington Post Book World
Review
“A vibrant first novel…A story that is both intimately close to the family and large enough to encompass a revolution.” Denver Post
Review
“A GOLDEN AGE has everything an epic should have...[Anam] is able to convey the larger story of politics and war against a much smaller and more intimate story.” San Jose Mercury News
Review
“Anams story gains momentum as its characters take shape…Readers will feel the depth of this nations crisis through its people, and the conclusion delivers a surprising blow.” Rocky Mountain News
Review
“Moving…Full of beauty…Both a riveting tale and a lament for the atrocities the people suffered during Pakistans invasion in 1971 …The novel just keeps getting stronger as it progresses…building to a doozy of an ending.” Christian Science Monitor
Review
“Tahmima Anams startlingly accomplished and gripping novel describes not only the tumult of a great historical event…but also the small but heroic struggles of individuals living in the shadow of revolution and war.” Pankaj Mishra
Synopsis
"Spellbinding . . . . Anam has written a story about powerful events. But it is her descriptions of the small, unheralded moments . . . that truly touch the heart." --San Francisco Chronicle
Tahmima Anam's deeply moving debut novel about a mother's all-consuming love for her two children, set against the backdrop of war and terror, has led critics to comparisons with The English Patient and A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Rehana Haque, a young widow transplanted to the city of Dhaka in East Pakistan, is fiercely devoted to her adolescent children, Maya and Sohail. Both become fervent nationalists in the violent political turmoil which, in 1971, transforms a brutal Pakistani civil war into a fight to the death for Bangladeshi independence. Fair-minded and intensely protective of her family, but not at all political, Rehana is sucked into the conflict in spite of herself.
A story of passion and revolution, of family, friendship and unexpected heroism, A Golden Age depicts the chaos of an era and the choices everyone--from student protesters to the country's leaders, and rickshaw wallahs to the army's soldiers--must make. Rehana herself will face a cruel dilemma; the choice she makes is at once heartbreaking and true to the character we have come to love and respect.
Synopsis
Rehana Haque, a young widow, blissfully prepares for the party she will host for her son and daughter. But this is 1971 in East Pakistan, and change is in the air.
Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence, A Golden Age is a story of passion and revolution; of hope, faith, and unexpected heroism in the midst of chaos—and of one woman's heartbreaking struggle to keep her family safe.
Synopsis
Rehana Haque, a young widow, blissfully prepares for the party she will host for her son and daughter. But this is 1971 in East Pakistan, and change is in the air.
Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence, A Golden Ageis a story of passion and revolution; of hope, faith, and unexpected heroism in the midst of chaos—and of one woman's heartbreaking struggle to keep her family safe.
About the Author
Tahmima Anam was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and grew up in Paris, Bangkok, and New York. She holds a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University. Her writing has been published in Granta, the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Financial Times. A Golden Age, her first novel, was the winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. She lives in London and Dhaka.