The Heart Asks Pleasure First

It is 2001 and Daya and Aaftab have just met in a park in Cardiff. She is studying ballet and he is practising in a law firm. She falls madly in love. He does, but he also cannot, because he is Muslim and there are certain rules.

Set in a world of students, Karuna Ezara Parikh sets up a dazzling framework of impossible, forbidden love, difficult joyous friendship, as she delves into migration, Islamophobia and jihad in the wake of a cataclysmic terror event that will have dangerous ramifications the world over.

Brilliantly crafted, this magical first novel reveals with great power and grace both the agony and the ecstasy of being human.

Watch author Karuna Ezara Parikh discuss her book with Gurmehar Kaur here: