City of Spies, Sorayya Khan
City of Spies, Sorayya Khan
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City of Spies

Author: Sorayya Khan

Narrator: Soneela Nankani

Unabridged: 9 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook (DRM Protected)

Published: 09/19/2017

Synopsis

In this intimate coming-of-age story set in the late 1970s, a young girl struggles to make sense of the chaos around her during Pakistan’s political upheaval, where the military revolts, the embassy burns, and a terrible secret tears her world apart.Eleven-year-old Aliya Shah lives a double life in Islamabad, Pakistan—at home with her Pakistani father and Dutch mother, and at the American School, where Aliya tries to downplay that she is a “half-and-half.” But when a hit-and-run driver kills the son of the family’s servant, Sadiq, who is also Aliya’s dear friend, her world is turned upside down. After she discovers the truth behind the tragedy—a terrible secret that burdens her heart—her conflicted loyalties are tested as never before.Based on the author’s own experiences growing up in Islamabad, City of Spies offers a poignant and dramatic portrait of a tumultuous time, as seen through the eyes of a brave and compassionate young heroine struggling to find her place in the gray area between loyalty and complicity, family and country.Revised edition: This edition of City of Spies includes editorial revisions.

About Sorayya Khan

Sorayya Khan is the author of two previous novels, Noor and Five Queen’s Road. She is the recipient of a US Fulbright award, and City of Spies was the 2015 winner of the Best International Fiction Book at the Sharjah International Book Fair.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Zoe on December 07, 2017

Fascinating, pensive, and well written. City of Spies is an intriguing read that gives you an inside look into what life in Islamabad was like for a young girl of mixed race (Pakistani/Dutch) during the 1970s and the American influence in that part of the world at that time. Thank you to Thomas Allen......more

Goodreads review by Patricia on July 01, 2021

Really good story based on true events that happened to the author when she was a young girl and lived in Islamabad with her family in the 1970's. I loved the young girl's voice in this story. She was so smart and related to everyone in the her family and the servants and tried to understand all the......more

Goodreads review by Anum on April 10, 2023

For years now, I’ve been reading and writing reviews, the first for longer than the latter. And one thing I noticed in every reviewer’s repertoire was that at one point or another, there would be something along the lines of ‘I took more notes on this story but my review got deleted/notes got wiped/......more

Goodreads review by Katy O. on September 17, 2017

CITY OF SPIES is a critically important and fascinating read in our time of political strife and international crisis. Thank you to Little A for providing me with an advance review copy of this title - all opinions are my own. Set in the late 1970's in Islamabad, Pakistan, this novel is narrated b......more

Quotes

“Khan writes with lovely elegance…The novel is a moving success and necessary at a time when many of the same concerns have come to dominate our national (and international) consciousness.” —Kirkus Reviews“City of Spies reminds readers that children bear witness to, and the weight of, the history unfolding around them.” —Booklist“Khan’s ambitious work, written in a drawn-out, journalistic manner, is a good choice for popular fiction readers interested in 1970s Pakistan and identity politics.” —Library Journal“The author, whose previous books also incisively and empathically deal with Pakistan at other crucial times of its life, spins the same magic…” —Business Standard“Through the eyes of a young girl, City of Spies brings to vivid life a crucial episode in the history of the United States and Pakistan, at the moment of the Iran hostage crisis. The tensions and confusions of that time are intensely relevant today. Sorayya Khan’s rich and compelling novel is a gem.” —Claire Messud“This delicate political novel evokes the sights and smells of the Pakistan of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Zia. We are inside the head of a child spying on her past. I read City of Spies as the story of another school girl in Pakistan, a different Malala. This Malala unmasks a whole new landscape of feeling.” —Amitava Kumar

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