The highly acclaimed and Betty Trask Award winning debut from the author of Maps for Lost Lovers A sack of letters lost in a train crash nineteen years previously has mysteriously reappeared, and the inhabitants of a small town in Pakistan are waiting anxiously to see what long buried secrets will come to light. Could the letters have any bearing on Judge Anwar's murder? In one of the most exquisite fictional debuts of recent years, Nadeem Aslam creates an exotic and timeless world, but one whose traditional rituals of everyday life are played out against an ominous backdrop of faraway civil wars, assassinations, changing regimes, and religious tensions. 'Vivid and poignant.' Evening Standard 'Poised and troubling.' The Times 'A real treat.' Daily Telegraph 'One of the most impressive first novels of recent years.' Salman Rushdie