SOLD OUT! The First Jasmines by Saima Begum

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO A WAITING LIST PLEASE EMAIL SHOP@HOUSMANS.COM Housmans and Hajar Press are delighted to celebrate the launch of this important, magnificent novel. Saima Begum’s The First Jasmines follows two sisters, Lucky and Jamila, after they are captured by the military while on the way to visit their mother in what was then called East Pakistan, in 1971. Locked in a room in an unknown village-turned-camp by the river, the women look through a lone barred window onto white jasmines blooming day and night. Meanwhile, around the camp, deadly guerrilla fighters from the Bengali Mukti Bahini gather to take back territory from the Pakistan Army. As Bangladesh crowns painfully into the world, Lucky and Jamila must choose between heartbreak and secrecy to return from an unspoken violence. We are extremely lucky to have Saima Begum with us on the night, joined in conversation by Shahnaz Ahsan. We anticipate this will be a popular event so please book ahead to avoid dissapointment. OUR SPEAKERS: Saima Begum is a British-Bangladeshi writer based in North London. She won the MFest Short Story Competition in 2021. The First Jasmines is her first novel. Shahnaz Ahsan is an author, columnist and award-winning food writer. ​Her latest book is The Jackfruit Chronicles: Memories and Recipes from a British-Bangladeshi Kitchen, published by HarperNorth. Her debut novel Hashim & Family was an Observer Best Book of 2020 and was shortlisted for the Guardian Not the Booker Prize. ​ As always, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com, and a free ticket will be made available. If you choose ‘book + entry’, your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier, or arrange for delivery, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. Doors Open at 6:45pm, Event Starts 7:00