Minaret

I bought six books at the excellent Hope Association book fair back in May last year and Minaret is one of two that I hadn't got around to reading until now. I was attracted to the story by the Ali Smith quote on the front cover: "Minaret is a wonderful book ... readable, subtle and ambiguous, with a shocking clarity of voice" and by Aboulela being an #OwnVoices Muslim Sudanese author in London. It's depressingly uncommon to actually hear about women's experience of Islam directly from the women themselves so I was keen to read this positive portrayal.

The novel is indeed very readable and the font size in my paperback edition meant I zoomed through the pages faster than I had expected to do. Minaret isn't a light read though. It could simply be a story of lost privilege and thwarted love - a poor rich girl finding a new place for herself in a completely changed world - but also works on a deeper level to explore our need for spiritual identity and a sense of belonging. Despite not having any religious inclinations, I could feel myself drawn to the solidarity of the women's group at Najwa's mosque and could easily empathise with her rediscovery of childhood ritual and faith. Aboulela presents women well although I couldn't understand what Najwa saw in either of the men to whom she is attracted!