Overview

When a major Pakistani political figure is hanged, OK Town erupts in protest. A few miles away, Sir Baghi is surprised by a knock at the door of his language school, the Rebel English Academy. An unexpected visitor, Sabiha, seeks refuge - but she has a gun, her parents are political prisoners, her husband has just died in a suspicious fire and she's clearly hiding something. Meanwhile Captain Gul, disgraced intelligence officer, has been banished to OK Town, where he aims to silence protesters by any means necessary. But his duties - and romantic desires - begin to overlap, and his already-dubious power is further threatened. In Rebel English Academy, we see Pakistan coming into modernity through a vibrant cast of interconnected characters that face a changing landscape with violence, passion and sharp humour. Wry, searing and deeply relevant, this is a triumphant novel about political power, religion, education, sexuality and dissent.

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9781804711163

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Reviews

Hanif strikes a successful balance between the darkly humorous and the deadly serious * Publishers Weekly * Mohammed Hanif is a brave, gifted writer -- Mohsin Hamid, author of EXIT WEST Hanif is dexterous and ambitious with the literary tools of both east and west...Combine this with humour as cutting as Heller or Evelyn Waugh...and you have something wildly original * Guardian, on RED BIRDS * Witty, elegant and deliciously anarchic. Hanif has a lovely eye and an even better ear -- John le Carré, on A CASE OF EXPLODING MANGOES An insanely brilliant, satirical first novel . . . Belongs in a tradition that includes Catch-22, but it also calls to mind the biting comedy of Philip Roth * Washington Post, on A CASE OF EXPLODING MANGOES *

Mohammed Hanif is a brave, gifted writer -- Mohsin Hamid, author of EXIT WEST Hanif is dexterous and ambitious with the literary tools of both east and west...Combine this with humour as cutting as Heller or Evelyn Waugh...and you have something wildly original * Guardian, on RED BIRDS * Witty, elegant and deliciously anarchic. Hanif has a lovely eye and an even better ear -- John le Carré, on A CASE OF EXPLODING MANGOES An insanely brilliant, satirical first novel . . . Belongs in a tradition that includes Catch-22, but it also calls to mind the biting comedy of Philip Roth * Washington Post, on A CASE OF EXPLODING MANGOES *

Author Information

Mohammed Hanif was born in Okara, Pakistan. He graduated from the Pakistan Air Force Academy as Pilot Officer but subsequently left to pursue a career in journalism. His first novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Novel. His second novel, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, was shortlisted for the 2012 Wellcome Prize. He has written the libretto for a new opera and writes regularly for the New York Times, BBC Urdu and BBC Punjabi. He currently splits his time between Berlin and Karachi.

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