Love Marriage
Date Published: 03.02.2022
Love Marriage, a new book by alumna Monica Ali, publishes this week.
"Every bit as compelling as Brick Lane. A joyous novelist at the peak of her formidable powers, writing fresh lives into our literary tradition."
Daljit Nagra, Chair of the Royal Society of Literature
Monica Ali (PPE, 1986)
From the bestselling, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Brick Lane, Love Marriage is Monica Ali’s first novel since 2011.
Love Marriage is a story about who we are and how we love in today’s Britain – with all the complications and contradictions of life, desire, marriage and family. What starts as a captivating social comedy develops into a heart-breaking and gripping story of two cultures, two families and two people trying to understand one another.
Writing in The Times, journalist Melissa Katsoulis describes the novel as “frank, sexy and entertaining” and comments: “Love Marriage, a sprawling, atmospheric tale of an Indian family in contemporary Britain, revisits many of the themes of Brick Lane, but places them in a richer, newer London.” “Love Marriage is Brick Lane for 2022 with nicer interiors and more sex, and will be lapped up by fans of Ali’s debut. Yet it is also the work of a mature feminist author” she adds.
Love Marriage tells the tale of Yasmin Ghorami, who has a lot to be grateful for: a loving family, a fledgling career in medicine, and a charming, handsome fiancée, fellow doctor Joe Sangster. But as the wedding day draws closer and Yasmin’s parents get to know Joe’s firebrand feminist mother, both families must confront the unravelling of long-held secrets, lies and betrayals. As Yasmin dismantles her own assumptions about the people she holds most dear, she’s also forced to ask herself what she really wants in a relationship and what a ‘love marriage’ actually means.
