While There Is Light is a fictionalised account of the events leading up to the arrest of one of the so called 'Bradford 12' - twelve Asian and African Caribbean men charged and imprisoned in 1982 for making petrol bombs as a way of defending their communities against The National Front. As well as taking in a host of still pertinent questions about national identity, the treatment of asian and muslim communities in British society, and the political milieu of the US-propped up General Zia administration in Pakistan, it is also a deeply personal journey of one man seeking forgiveness.
While There is Light marks an interesting departure in fiction about the experience of Asians in Britain....The humour is typical, but Mehmood's work is a far cry from the cuddly charm of the Kumars. He isn't interested in using exotic confusions and cultural confrontations as an occasion for easy humour or satire; instead, he outlines these matters with equal pain and amusement. The effect is a continual balancing of the harassment and discrimination that Saleem experiences in England against the fear and oppression of peasant life in the village. -- The Guardian, Dec 2003
Details
ISBN 1857547292
Publisher Comma Press
Genre Fiction
Extent 278pp
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