"To Lahore with love" by Hina Belitz

An audio book.

Prologue - she comes home from shopping and thinks she catches Gabe with his lover.

Before - London. Addy's grandmother had taken her on a trip to Pakistan when she was 6. Addy's Pakistani father left when she was about 7, and died soon after. Her Catholic Irish mother moved in with her grandmother. Her mother often worked in another town or country. She was bought up with 2 religions and 2 types of food. When she was bullied at school by Elsie for being mixed race, Jen protected her and they became friends. Addy was academically inclined, Jen wasn't. Though Addy qualified for university she chose to train on the job as a chef. She discovered that her grandmother couldn't read (though she had memorised the Koran), so she wrote her recipes down. At 18 Gabe proposed to her - he's a post-doc scientist (with a pretty colleague Sophie). It excited her when he talked science. She likes mixing opposites in her recipes (there are recipes in the book, purposed like charms). She couldn't get pregnant. After a year or so he leaves her. She wants to know why.

After the break-up, Jen, gran and Addy go to Lahoree. Gran says she went with Addie last time to wish that Addy's parents stayed together. This time they'll pray for Addy. She's set up with a Huck, a handsome IBM consultant (reluctantly engaged). He has penetrating eyes. She likes him. She learns that Djinns helped teach her gran to cook.

After a week Gran tells her that uncle Moosa is her father. The lie had been Addy's mother's idea, to stop Addy upsetting her with questions.

Jen (hardy mentioned, though she's been in a strange culture for a week) tells her that she slept with Gabe, then she rushes into the street just when there's a national riot. Gabe phones Ally to see if she's ok. He wants her back. He says there's no other woman. That's enough for Ally to reject him forever. She's been transformed, her parts united, like the ingredients in her recipes. She values her two ways of seeing things (Western and Eastern; good luck and bad luck). Before she returns to London, nanna invites Huck and his parents. Huck has ended his engagement.

Harmless romantic fiction.

Other reviews

• rarelyinreality (As soon as Addy reached Lahore, her character development increased exponentially. ... Addy makes a lot of discoveries that I didn’t always find to be quite as believable or developed as other aspects of the book towards the end)