Anyone who has read The Wasted Vigil or Maps For Lost Lovers will know what to expect from this new book - incredibly lush and beautiful prose, descriptive sentences reminiscent of Michael Ondaatje, tragically doomed love, utterly brutal violence, a background of appalling fundamentalism, a story which you just cannot put down, and characters who stay with you. For ever. The Blind Man's Garden delivers on all fronts. If this book is not in the running for next year's major awards, I'll be very surprised. The setting is again Pakistan and Afghanistan not long after 9/11, and although a lot has been written about that place in these times, Nadeem Aslam surpasses almost everything else I've read. This book reads in parts like a thriller, there is unbearable tension around the fate of these characters, but the quality of the prose forces the reader to slow down and sink into this terrible, terrible world. Read it.