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In the City by the Sea

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In the City by the Sea

By: Kamila Shamsie
Narrated by: Mikhail Sen
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About this listen

Bloomsbury presents In the City by the Sea by Kamila Shamsie, read by Mikhail Sen.

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'Full of fun, longing and wit … a debut of spirit and imagination, loaded with intelligent charm' - Ali Smith

'A touching and engrossing story … an assured debut' - The Times

'A colourful and peripatetic view of politics in Pakistan … an interesting and promising novel' - Guardian
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BY THE ACCLAIMED WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN LLEWELLYN RHYS PRIZE
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Hasan is eleven years old. He loves cricket, pomegranates, the night sky, his clever, vibrant artistic mother and his etymologically obsessed lawyer father, and he adores his next-door neighbour Zehra. One early summer morning, while lazing happily on the roof, Hasan watches a young boy flying a yellow kite fall to his death.

Soon after, Hasan's idyllic, sheltered family life is shattered when his beloved uncle Salman, a dissenting politician, is arrested and charged with treason... Set in a land ruled by an oppressive military regime, this eloquent, charming and quietly political novel vividly recreates the confusing world of a young boy on the edge of adulthood, and beautifully illustrates the transformative power of the imagination.

©2025 Kamila Shamsie (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Genre Fiction Political World Literature

Critic reviews

Full of fun, longing and wit … a debut of spirit and imagination, loaded with intelligent charm (Ali Smith)
A touching and engrossing story … an assured debut
Lively, playful, provocative (Anita Desai)
A colourful and peripatetic view of politics in Pakistan … an interesting and promising novel
Utterly enchanting (Deborah Moggach)
All stars
Most relevant  
As always - beautifully written. However unlike Burnt Shadows the storyline was less complex and interesting. There is good insight into the personal and political climate and overall I found it a sad story, though with lovely and thought provoking metaphors.

A mixture of personal and political threads formulate this story

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