A Beggar at the Gate - Tapa blanda

'Ali convincingly captures both Victorian-era Punjabi and British court culture, and her description of the conniving ineptitude of the British as they travel across the subcontinent humanizes them' Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)

'Colourful, love-crossing boundaries stuff' Bookseller (Bookseller)

'Beautifully written, this novel transports the reader back to the 19th century, British Imperialism and the pull of two cultures in an ever-changing world' (Lancashire Evening Post)

'Between the gaps separating Christians and Muslims, spirituality abounds, and Ali writes with a clarity often lacking in this subject' (Good Book Guide)

As Lahore's rose-scented air is rent by political feuding and tension, Mariana Givens must choose between her beloved little stepson and the life she has always known. Two years earlier, in 1838, Mariana became the guardian of three-year-old Saboor. They now live in Calcutta with her aunt and uncle, but Mariana is ostracised by the British community for her impulsive marriage to Saboor's native father. Her relatives insist she return to Lahore, a journey of over a thousand miles by river and on horseback, to ask for a divorce. This will mean giving up Saboor, but it may allow her to find a British husband and have a life of her own. Once in Lahore, as violence swirls around her, she is drawn towards the spiritual culture of her husband's Muslim family, and begins to wonder if she can bear to be cut off from them for ever.