Brick Lane, Monica Ali
Brick Lane, Monica Ali
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Brick Lane
A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Author: Monica Ali

Narrator: Full Cast, Anneika Rose, Zubin Varla, Nikesh Patel, Hiftu Quasem

Unabridged: 1 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/01/2023

Synopsis

A stunning BBC radio adaptation of Monica Ali's bestselling, Booker-shortlisted novel

1985. Uprooted from her home in Bangladesh, 18-year-old Nazneen is sent to London for an arranged marriage with a much older man. Her new life is strange and bewildering - the busy streets and crowded tower blocks of the East End are a world away from the rural village she grew up in, and she struggles to adapt to living with her self-important husband, Chanu.

Back in Bangladesh, Nazneen's sister Hasina has eloped with the man she loves, and been disowned by her family. Homesick and isolated, Nazneen reads her letters with envy, longing to have such independence and romance for herself. As the years pass, she devotes herself to becoming a dutiful wife and mother - and then she meets a passionate young radical, Karim, and finds herself drawn to him. Can she finally decide to take charge of her destiny?

Monica Ali's stunning debut has become a modern classic. Published in 2003, its themes of immigrant identity and integration, racism and nationalism, free will and fate still resonate with us today. Dramatised by leading playwright Tanika Gupta, this enthralling adaptation was shortlisted for a BBC Audio Drama Award, and stars Anneika Rose, Zubin Varla, Chetna Pandya, Hiftu Quasem, Nina Wadia and Nikesh Patel.

Written by Monica Ali
Dramatised by Tanika Gupta
Directed by Anne Isger
Sound by Caleb Knightley, Ali Craig and Pete Ringrose
Production Co-ordination by Luke MacGregor
Production Assistance by Hannah O'Reilly
A BBC Audio Production

Cast
Nazneen - Anneika Rose
Chanu - Zubin Varla
Razia - Chetna Pandya
Hasina - Hiftu Quasem
Mrs Islam - Nina Wadia
Dr Azad - Neil D'Souza
Karim - Nikesh Patel
Tariq - Ragevan Vasan
Shahana - Rameet Rauli
Bibi - Riti Suthar
Secretary - Gavi Singh Chera

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 7-14 August 2022

© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

About Monica Ali

Monica Ali was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and grew up in England. She was named one of the 20 best young British novelists under 40 by Granta. She is the author of four previous novels, including Untold Story and Brick Lane, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Guardian Book Prize, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was named a winner of the 2003 Discover Award for Fiction and a New York Times Editors’ Choice Book that same year. She lives in London with her husband and two children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Baba on May 06, 2022

At 18, Nazneen is taken from her Bangladeshi village life, via an arranged marriage to a man in his 40s who is just about eking out a living in a poor part of East London (UK) in his small flat. Anecdotally, this is the fate that many Bengali (and other Muslim) girls know awaits, so she knuckles dow......more

Goodreads review by Paul on February 06, 2014

I don't know why they do it but they do it a lot - on the title page it says Brick Lane : A Novel And there I was expecting this oblong of printed material to be Brick Lane : A New Kind of Vacuum Cleaner Anyway. Other reviews would have you believe that this book is terrifically boring, beaten only fo......more

Goodreads review by Bionic Jean on May 21, 2025

This is the story of Nazneen, who lives in East London’s Brick Lane. So what is so special about Brick Lane, to make it the title of a novel? Does it actually exist? And if so, where is it? Well Brick Lane certainly does exist. It is a long road in the Tower Hamlets area of East London, starting in Be......more

Goodreads review by Alesa on December 31, 2013

There's a good reason that Brick Lane was short-listed for the Man Booker award, and was nominated for a whole slew of other prizes too. It is just brilliant. That doesn't mean that it is necessarily fun to read. (A 16 year old Bangladeshi girl is married off to a 40 year old guy in London, and goes......more

Goodreads review by zed on November 22, 2024

A book that asks about fate. The author states this very early in the read. A strange quirk of fate made me read this. I walked to the railway station and passed the neighbourhood swap library and could not resist that the front cover said that Brick Lane was a Booker nominee. Tucking it into my bag......more

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