A Golden Age
Author | Tahmima Anam |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Genre | Historical novel, War novel |
Publisher | John Murray (UK) |
Publication date | March 2007 (UK) |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
ISBN | 0-7195-6010-1 |
OCLC | 181926640 |
Followed by | The Good Muslim |
A Golden Age is the first novel of the Bangladesh born writer Tahmima Anam. It tells the story of the Bangladesh War of Independence through the eyes of one family. The novel was awarded the prize for Best First Book in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2008. It was also shortlisted for the 2007 Guardian First Book Award. The first chapter of the novel appeared in the January 2007 edition of Granta magazine.
Plot summary
The plot of the novel describes the true story of the writer's grandmother during the Bangladesh Liberation War. During the war her grandma helped the Freedom Fighters by protecting their ammunitions. Once when the army came to her house and threatened that they would take the youngest son of the family if she did not give them the information about the fighters, she somehow successfully tackled them. The person who portrays the character is named Rehana Haque. The story also covers the inner conflict of Rehana as she loses the custody of her children after her husband's death. Along with her desperate attempt to win the minds of her children, she tries to protect them as they get involved in the war.
Characters
- Rehana Haque: The main character
- Sohail: Rehana's son
- Maya: Rehana's daughter
- Mrs. Chowdhury: Rehana's friend and neighbor
- Silvi: Mrs. Chowdhury's daughter and a love interest of Sohail's
- Sharmeen: Maya's Friend who was raped in the war
- Iqbal Haque: Rehana's dead husband
- The Major: Rehana's love interest
- Sabeer: Silvi's fiance.
- Mr and Mrs. Sengupta: Rehana's Hindu tennats at Shona
- Mrs.Rahman and Mrs.Akram: Rehanas neighbours and fellow 'sewing sisters'
- Faiz Haque : Rehana's brother in law
- Parveen Haque : Faiz's wife
External links
- http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1957367,00.html
- http://www.thebookseller.com/?pid=2&did=21510