Photo by Sarah Deragon, Portraits to the People.

For Austenites and fans of rich cultural commentary comes Soniah Kamal's effervescently charming Unmarriageable, a modern Pakistani twist on the classic Pride and Prejudice plot.

What will Mr. Darsee make of the Binats?

More than merely a playful, absolutely captivating and enjoyable retelling of the classic novel, this updated narrative, set in 2001 Lahore, also packs incredible wit and underlying power. Kamal, herself an ambassador for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation, has been praised by for deft skill parallel to Austen’s.

 “[Y]ou’ll find a cheeky undercurrent that echoes Austen's novels' ability to work on two levels... Kamal's Unmarriageable succeeds in being both a deliciously readable romantic comedy and a commentary on class in post-colonial, post-partition Pakistan, where the effects of the British Empire still reverberate.” – Ilana Masad, NPR

Feminist, fun, richly imagined and filled with coded Urdu puns, this is a book you don't want to miss. 

Interviewing Kamal in conversation will be Stanford Austen aficionado and Stanford literary scholar, Rebecca Richardson. Since completing her Ph.D. in 2013, she has been a lecturer at Stanford University. Her published works on the Victorian era can be found in ELH [English Literary History], Dickens Studies Annual, Studies in Romanticism, and ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. She is currently working on a book project about the Victorian novel and self-help genre. 

Join us at Kepler’s Literary Foundation on March 27th, when Soniah Kamal unlocks the secrets hidden in her delight of a debut.