Monica Ali is one of the twenty writers on the hugely influential and highly prestigious Granta 'Best of Young British Writers' list, announced in January. Her inclusion was well deserved but remarkable given that her first novel 'Brick Lane' was at that time unpublished! The list, published once a decade, has previously included Salman Rushdie and this time included Zadie Smith and Hari Kunzru. Monica Ali, was cited by the Granta judges as one of the few writers who "sailed through" the judging process.

'Brick Lane' is an epic yet intimate novel set in the Asian community in London's East End. Still a teenager, Nazneen finds herself in an arranged marriage with a disappointed man twenty years her senior. Away from the mud, heat and beauty of her Bangladeshi village, home is now a cramped flat in a high-rise block. Nazneen doesn't speak a work of English and is forced to depend entirely on her husband. But unlike him, she is practical and wise, and befriends a fellow Asian woman who helps her find her way.

Still deeply committed to her religion, she has a strong sense of tradition and family duty, in contrast to her rebellious sister, Hasina, "back home", who has run off in a "love marriage" which goes disastrously wrong. The sisters tell each other about their wildly differing lives by letter. Confined to the flat - her husband doesn't approve of women walking outside by themselves - Nazneen earns a living by sewing. And so her life continues until the unexpected arrival of the radical Karim. Against a background of racial conflict and tension on the outside world, they embark on a love affair that forces Nazneen to finally take control of her fate.

Strikingly imagined, gracious and full of warm humour 'Brick Lane' explores the role of fate in our lives - those who accept it, and those who defy it - and traces the extraordinary transformation of a cautious, shy Asian girl into a bold and dignified woman.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Monica Ali was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1967. As an infant, she moved to the north of England with her family. She studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University and now lives in London with her husband and two children.

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