Such a lovely, thought-provoking story

This was a truly lovely story. Bilal's mother makes a wish on her deathbed for Bilal to build a mosque in his village. Little did he know that announcing this suggestion at a village meeting would cause such controversy. This is the main story that runs throughout but we get to learn so much about the village's inhabitants and see their relationships change, develop but also fall apart at times which was my favourite thing about this story. At the same time as the uproar in the village, Bilal also is concerned with looking after his Khala and worrying about the cracks that are appearing in his marriage.

If I had one criticism of this book it would be that I didn't find it gripping. However, I did notice that when I wasn't reading it I was thinking about the story, the themes and the characters; and so I still wanted to continue reading. This story really does have some interesting characters - Khala Rukhsana was one of my favourites! I think this story also has a lot of relevance - the themes and conflicts that it addresses relate to many aspects of modern day life. It really gets you thinking and emphasises just how important understanding other people really is. I think a lot of people can really gain something from reading this.

Thanks to Readers First for a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.