Scala Radio Book Club: The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad
Sent back to his birthplace - Lahore's notorious red-light district - to hush up the murder of a girl, a man finds himself in an unexpected reckoning with his past
Last updated 17th Aug 2022
In the Scala Radio Book Club (Thursday 7th April 2022), Mark Forrest chatted to Indie Bookshop Book of the Month author Aamina Ahmad, on her brand-new novel, The Return of Faraz Ali.
As riots erupt on the streets of Lahore, Inspector Faraz returns to his birthplace, the red-light district in the ancient walled city where women still pass on the profession of courtesan to their daughters. Plucked from it as a small boy by his influential father, Faraz has kept his roots well hidden. Now his father has sent him back: to cover up the murder of a young prostitute.
It should be a simple task in the marginalised community, but Faraz finds himself unable to obey orders or to resist searching for the mother and sister he left behind. Chasing down the walled city's labyrinthine alleys for answers that risk shattering his carefully constructed existence, he is unaware that his sister faces having to return too, and to a life she thought she had escaped.
As riveting as it is thought-provoking, as profoundly intimate as it is wide in scope, The Return of Faraz Ali poses a timeless question: whom do we choose to protect, and at what price?
Mark began the interview asking about the location where the novel is set. ‘The story is very much rooted in the Mohallah, the red-light district. Just explain a little bit about this part of the Old City. What's life like for the women and men who live there?’
‘The red-light district is a very small section of the Old City,’ said Aamina. ‘In that district, traditionally what happened was the women who worked in that industry passed down the work from mother to daughter. So people were born into that trade. The birth of girls was celebrated because they represented a kind of pension for the families. They supported their families and had earning power. And the boys did not. Often, they acted as brokers for the women in the family, but they don't have a kind of career path in that world.’
Mark asked, ‘Where did your passion for writing initially spring from?’
‘Well, I think, like a lot of writers, it began with reading. I loved books as a kid. My mum writes, and when I was probably about six or seven, she began forging a career as a writer. I may have just written stories for myself but seeing someone in your household who's doing it and living the life of an artist, it really demystifies how the process works. It felt very accessible. So, I think I started trying to write my first novel at about the age of eight, which I did not finish and was about a bookworm. My parents also really encouraged me. So I think that was really key in helping develop and nurture that passion.’
Mark finished the interview asking, ‘So you've worked in radio drama and in TV drama. You've written a play and seen it put on. You've now written a book. The compelling new project for you now will be what?’
‘So I'm starting work on another historical project, but this time going back even further in time. I'm interested in the British Indian soldiers who fought in the Great War. There's even less written about them. And it's a new area of research. I think it's really exciting to think about all those soldiers who played such a huge part in that enormous kind of consuming conflict.’
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