A slow start ends with a bang. This is the story of a staid English Major who's wife recently died, and how he adapts to living in the English countryside. He befriends a Pakistani shop-keeper whose husband also recently died. Of course, in the old-school English village in which they live, this creates quite a scandal. Other scandal follows the Pakistani woman. A couple of hilarious scenes ensue, including a local dance-party, set to a theme of British domination of the Indian subcontinent. Needless-to-say, this theme doesn't sit well with the Indian and Pakistani folk who are helping to cater and decorate the event, and a melee ensues.
Add to the mix the local "Lord" and his yearly duck-hunt behind the local schoolyard (and the fact that the children ran onto the shooting ground to save "their" ducks), and the Major's son who is more interested in his own career advancement than familial relations, and the book have some very hilarious moments. It takes a little while to get into it, and really start caring for the Major (as opposed to being off-put by his English traditionalism), but once you do, you really get into the story.
The love story element here between the Major and Mrs. Ali gives the book something for just about everyone. Anyone would be good to give it a try.
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