Moth Smoke
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  • Published: 25 April 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241953938
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $22.99

Moth Smoke

Formats & editions
Paperback
25 Apr 2019
EBook
1 Aug 2011
Audiobook
3 Mar 2022
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The acclaimed debut novel from the author of Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist - now reissued in a fresh new paperback look across the Hamid backlist

In Lahore, Daru Shezad is a junior banker with a hashish habit. When his old friend Ozi moves back to Pakistan, Daru wants to be happy for him. Ozi has everything: a beautiful wife and child, an expensive foreign education - and a corrupt father who bankrolls his lavish lifestyle.

As jealousy sets in, Daru's life slowly unravels. He loses his job. Starts lacing his joints with heroin. Becomes involved with a criminally-minded rickshaw driver. And falls in love with Ozi's lonely wife.

But how low can Daru sink? Is he guilty of the crime he finds himself on trial for?
  • Published: 25 April 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241953938
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $22.99
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About the author

Mohsin Hamid

Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School and worked for several years as a management consultant in New York. His first novel, Moth Smoke, was published in ten languages, won a Betty Trask Award, and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. His essays and journalism have appeared in Time, the New York Times and the Guardian, among others. His latest novel is The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) published by Penguin. Mohsin Hamid currently lives, works and writes in London.

http://www.mohsinhamid.com

portrait photo of Mohsin Hamid

Also by Mohsin Hamid

The Last White Man
Exit West
Discontent and Its Civilizations
How to Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
See all

Praise for Moth Smoke

Stunning . . . [Hamid] has created a hip page-turner

Jonathan Levi, Los Angeles Times

Not often does one find a first novel that has the power of imagination and skill to orchestrate personal and public themes of these consequences and achieve a chord that reverberates in one's mind. Moth Smoke is one of the best novels I have read this year

Nadine Gordimer

A rare glimpse into modern-day Pakistan . . . The voices that emerge are sarcastic and sad, a lively lament . . . reminiscent of V. S. Naipaul and Salman Rushdie

Chicago Tribune

A vivid portrait of contemporary young Pakistani life, where frustration and insecurity feed not only the snobbery, decadence and aspirations of the rich, but also the resentment of the poor

The Times

A first novel of remarkable wit, poise and profundity. A treat

Esquire

Sharply observed, powerful, evocative

Financial Times
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