In Babbel’s End, the author creates a picture of a community which exhibits all the features of small village life: gossip, petty rivalries and disputes between neighbours, the latter exemplified by the hilarious “battle of Tom’s bush”. However, a recent tragedy has exposed the village to very modern day issues and the response to it (or lack of response to it) has heightened tensions. As one character observes, “Living in their farmland, thinking nothing’s more important than a fete or a stolen ceramic pot; in the meantime, to hell with what anyone’s going through.” For Richard, the community’s vicar, the tragedy has caused him to doubt his ability to provide comfort where needed, including at a very personal level. “He seemed to have lost the ability to inspire people to faith or find the right words to help people in distress.”
Bilal, his wife Mariam, and son Haaris have embraced village life. In fact, their relocation from Birmingham to Babbel’s End was a deliberate move to escape his family’s expectations that he maintain aspects of his Pakistani heritage despite his having been born in Britain. His mother’s deathbed wish changes all that, particularly when the strength of opposition becomes clear. As disapproval bubbles over into overt racism, things get very personal and Bilal is tempted to forget the whole idea. “Change was meant for fascist states and oppressive governments, not serene, bobbing-along, minding-it’s-own-business Babbel’s End.”
As the news of Bilal’s mission goes viral, it becomes a bigger issue than just church versus mosque but raises questions of identity, religious freedom and diversity. As Bilal observes, “What did everyone even mean by English? Bilal was English. Though he could concede that having a mosque in the middle of the village might not be. Surely you could be and want two different things at the same time?”
My favourite character in the book was Bilal’s Aunt (Khala) Rukhsana. Speaking little English, at first she is something of a fish out of water. However, she demonstrates the ability to reach out to people in other ways and really does emerge as the heroine of the piece. For instance, I loved the gradual blossoming of her relationship with Mariam, especially their joint ‘assault’ on the school bake sale substituting the usual cupcakes for something traditionally Indian. “And so they began the process of making the sweet, fragrant, yellow rice, to give everyone in Babbel’s End a taste of what was to come.”
This Green and Pleasant Land teaches us that divisions can be healed if we just take the time to understand the other person’s point of view, that it’s important to seize the day and that, in the words of Rukhsana, “home must be where you feel most alive”.
Bilal, his wife Mariam, and son Haaris have embraced village life. In fact, their relocation from Birmingham to Babbel’s End was a deliberate move to escape his family’s expectations that he maintain aspects of his Pakistani heritage despite his having been born in Britain. His mother’s deathbed wish changes all that, particularly when the strength of opposition becomes clear. As disapproval bubbles over into overt racism, things get very personal and Bilal is tempted to forget the whole idea. “Change was meant for fascist states and oppressive governments, not serene, bobbing-along, minding-it’s-own-business Babbel’s End.”
As the news of Bilal’s mission goes viral, it becomes a bigger issue than just church versus mosque but raises questions of identity, religious freedom and diversity. As Bilal observes, “What did everyone even mean by English? Bilal was English. Though he could concede that having a mosque in the middle of the village might not be. Surely you could be and want two different things at the same time?”
My favourite character in the book was Bilal’s Aunt (Khala) Rukhsana. Speaking little English, at first she is something of a fish out of water. However, she demonstrates the ability to reach out to people in other ways and really does emerge as the heroine of the piece. For instance, I loved the gradual blossoming of her relationship with Mariam, especially their joint ‘assault’ on the school bake sale substituting the usual cupcakes for something traditionally Indian. “And so they began the process of making the sweet, fragrant, yellow rice, to give everyone in Babbel’s End a taste of what was to come.”
This Green and Pleasant Land teaches us that divisions can be healed if we just take the time to understand the other person’s point of view, that it’s important to seize the day and that, in the words of Rukhsana, “home must be where you feel most alive”.