num_pages: 244
description: “All right, don’t scoff, mock or disbelieve. We live in mortal fear of not-quite twins.”The Dard-e-Dils are characterised by their clavicles and love of stories. Aliya may not have inherited her family’s patrician looks, but she is as much a prey to the legends of her family that stretch back to the days of Timur Lane. Aristocractic and eccentric, the clan has plenty of stories to tell, and secrets to hide.But there is a sting to most tales, for the Dard-e-Dils are cursed by their “not-quite” twins. Aliya begins to believe that she is another “not-quite twin” cosmically connected with her aunt Mariam, and in a way that hardly bodes well.“Mariam Apa” mysteriously arrives the day Aliya is born, claiming that she is the daughter of the long lost Taimur—a great uncle of Aliya’s. She offers no proof except the characteristic collarbone but is warmly embraced into the family fold. Mariam utters not a single word except to dictate the daily menu to Masood the family cook. Under her direction, Masood’s masterful cooking becomes ambrosial. The stories that Aliya tells are full of the aroma of pilafs, and the mouth-melting softness of kebabs. Food and love collide and soon scandal erupts in the family.Mariam’s story becomes especially relevant for Aliya when she falls in love with Khaleel, a boy from an unsuitable background. Determined to solve the mystery of Mariam, and resolve her dilemma, Aliya sets out to discover what the meaning of the family curse truly is.A superb, innovative storyteller, Kamila Shamsie writes with warmth and gusto. Through the many anecdotes about the Dard-e-Dils, she hints at the larger tale of a divided nation. Spanning the subcontinent from the Muslim invasions to the Partition, this is a magical novel about the shapes stories can take—turning into myths, appearing in history books and entering into our lives.
language: English
title: Salt and Saffron
titlecomplete: Salt and Saffron
characters: Mariam Apa, Aliya, Khaleel, Samia Savage
genres: Fiction, Cultural, Asia, India, Romance, Adult, Novels, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Pakistan
ratings_count: 1825
publisher: Bloomsbury USA