Our Lady of Alice Bhatti

"Perhaps Pakistan's brightest English-language voice... This very finely put-together novel sparkles and glitters but never shows off... Hanif's novel is relentlessly readable, compulsively so as it surges towards its apocalyptic conclusion... sometimes the prose attains the heights of poetry... Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is profoundly humane, and humanist." - Robin Yassin-Kassab, Guardian
"The 200 pages spent in Alice Bhatti's presence are distressing, illuminating and often funny... In this bold, uncompromising novel, Hanif draws a compassionate and despairing portrait of a nation in bedlam." - Alice Albinia, Financial Times
"Hanif's storytelling is frequently impressive... touching and unusual." - Faith Brinkley, Literary Review
."..one of the subcontinent's most compelling talents... Hanif finds the humanity in the most flawed of his protagonists and, in some unfathomable way, ends up affirming it." - Scotsman
"Rambunctious, vulgar, funny and moving, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti wields enormous emotional punch..." - Time Magazine

"In this amusing novel, Hanif renders the intricacies and limitations of Pakistan's lowest rungs with humor and candor, allowing as little pity for his characters as they allow themselves." - Publishers Weekly
"Laced with humor, often ribald and iconoclastic, this is an insightful tale of pain and love, a story of a quest for humanity and grace in a desperate, chaotic society." - Kirkus Reviews
"Rambunctious, vulgar, funny and moving, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti wields enormous emotional punch..." - Time Magazine
"Hanif's storytelling is frequently impressive touching and unusual." - Faith Brinkley, Literary Review
"Perhaps Pakistan's brightest English-language voice This very finely put-together novel sparkles and glitters but never shows off... Hanif's novel is relentlessly readable, compulsively so as it surges towards its apocalyptic conclusion... sometimes the prose attains the heights of poetry Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is profoundly humane, and humanist." - Robin Yassin-Kassab, Guardian
"The 200 pages spent in Alice Bhatti's presence are distressing, illuminating and often funny In this bold, uncompromising novel, Hanif draws a compassionate and despairing portrait of a nation in bedlam." - Alice Albinia, Financial Times
..".one of the subcontinent's most compelling talents Hanif finds the humanity in the most flawed of his protagonists and, in some unfathomable way, ends up affirming it." - Scotsman"

"In this amusing novel, Hanif renders the intricacies and limitations of Pakistan's lowest rungs with humor and candor, allowing as little pity for his characters as they allow themselves." - Publishers Weekly
"Laced with humor, often ribald and iconoclastic, this is an insightful tale of pain and love, a story of a quest for humanity and grace in a desperate, chaotic society." - Kirkus Reviews
"Rambunctious, vulgar, funny and moving, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti wields enormous emotional punch..." - Time Magazine
"Hanif's storytelling is frequently impressive touching and unusual." - Faith Brinkley, Literary Review
"Perhaps Pakistan's brightest English-language voice This very finely put-together novel sparkles and glitters but never shows off... Hanif's novel is relentlessly readable, compulsively so as it surges towards its apocalyptic conclusion... sometimes the prose attains the heights of poetry Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is profoundly humane, and humanist." - Robin Yassin-Kassab, Guardian
"The 200 pages spent in Alice Bhatti's presence are distressing, illuminating and often funny In this bold, uncompromising novel, Hanif draws a compassionate and despairing portrait of a nation in bedlam." - Alice Albinia, Financial Times
..".one of the subcontinent's most compelling talents Hanif finds the humanity in the most flawed of his protagonists and, in some unfathomable way, ends up affirming it." - Scotsman

The patients of the Sacred Heart Hospital need a miracle. Alice Bhatti may be just what they’re looking for. She’s just been released from the Borstal Jail. She’s the daughter of a part-time healer, and it seems she has inherited his gift. With a bit of begrudging but inspired improvisation, Alice begins to bring succor to the patients. But all is not miraculous. Alice is a Christian in an Islamic world, ensnared in the red tape of hospital bureaucracy, torn between her duty to her patients, her father and her husband - who is about to drag Alice into a situation so dangerous that perhaps not even a miracle will be able to save them. But, of course, Alice Bhatti is no ordinary young woman...