'No,' she said. 'No, he did nothing wrong. I'm the one who broke the law.' She would turn herself in. She would say the man she reported was a man she had smuggled across the border. She would say that after she reported him she started to worry he would reveal her complicity if arrested and so she identified the wrong man in the parking lot. She would say could she please speak to the arrested man and apologise in person.

'There's no law against reporting someone on a hunch. And he did a lot wrong,' the policeman said. 'I probably shouldn't be telling you this. But I think you deserve to know. Your government has been searching for that man. They're very glad to have him in their custody now. Miss, your father would be proud of you.'

Hiroko stood up and walked slowly over to the window. Outside, at least, the world went on.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to: Omar Rahim, Samina Mishra, Jaya Bhattacharji, Ruchir Joshi, for accompanying me 'on location' in Karachi and Delhi; Aamer Hussein, Mohammed Hanif, Elizabeth Porto, for comments on various drafts; David Mitch.e.l.l, for his generosity in suggesting avenues of research to a stranger; Beatrice Monti della Corte, for the haven that is Santa Maddalena; Victoria Hobbs and Alexandra Pringle, for continuing to be my dream team; Gillian Stern, for her sharp editorial eye; Ali Mir, for Sahir Ludhianvi and walks through New York City; Bobby Banerjee, for introducing me to the world of private military contractors; Karin Gosselink and Rachel Holmes, for their intellectual and political rigour; Biju Mathew, for allowing me to pick his brain; the dinner group in Galle, for the t.i.tle; my parents and sister, for continuing to be my greatest support; numerous friends particularly Maha Khan-Phillips and Janelle Schwartz for listening to me talk about this book, or pulling me away from my desk when I needed it; everyone at Bloomsbury and A. M. Heath; Frances Coady; Mark Pringle; finally, and most of all, the writers, journalists, film-makers and photographers whose works helped me imagine the worlds I've written about in this book.

The translation of Sahir Ludhianvi's poem in the epigraph is my own; the t.i.tle of the novel's final section is from Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient The English Patient.

Further Reading

Eqbal Ahmed, The Selected Writings The Selected Writings Steve Coll, Ghost Warriors Ghost Warriors John Hersey, Hiroshima Hiroshima Biju Mathew, TAXI TAXI Takashi Nagai, The Bells of Nagasaki The Bells of Nagasaki Keiji Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen Barefoot Gen B. K. Zahrah Nasir, The Gun Tree The Gun Tree P. W. Singer, Corporate Warriors Corporate Warriors Mohammad Yousaf and Mark Adkin, Afghanistan The Bear Trap Afghanistan The Bear Trap Robert Pelton Young, Licensed to Kill Licensed to Kill

A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR.

Kamila Shamsie was born in 1973 in Karachi. She is theauthor of four previous novels: In the City by the Sea In the City by the Sea,Kartography (both shortlisted for the John Llewellyn (both shortlisted for the John LlewellynRhys Prize), Salt and Saffron Salt and Saffron and and Broken Verses Broken Verses.Three of her novels have received awards fromPakistan's Academy of Letters.