Book Review: No Honour by Awais Khan

Hello everyone! It’s time to travel to Pakistan together. But be warned. It won’t be an easy journey.

Goodreads Blurb

No Honour by Awais Khan

In sixteen-year-old Abida’s small Pakistani village, there are age-old rules to live by, and her family’s honour to protect. And, yet, her spirit is defiant and she yearns to make a home with the man she loves. 

When the unthinkable happens, Abida faces the same fate as other young girls who have chosen unacceptable alliances – certain, public death. Fired by a fierce determination to resist everything she knows to be wrong about the society into which she was born, and aided by her devoted father, Jamil, who puts his own life on the line to help her, she escapes to Lahore and then disappears.

Jamil goes to Lahore in search of Abida – a city where the prejudices that dominate their village take on a new and horrifying form – and father and daughter are caught in a world from which they may never escape.

Moving from the depths of rural Pakistan, riddled with poverty and religious fervour, to the dangerous streets of over-populated Lahore, No Honour is a story of family, of the indomitable spirit of love in its many forms … a story of courage and resilience, when all seems lost, and the inextinguishable fire that lights one young woman’s battle for change.

Review

You know how I love to learn about things by reading fictional stories. I learned a lot by reading No Honour and it hurt my soul.

No Honour touches on the harsh reality of honour killings – and Pakistan has the highest number of honour killings per capita than anywhere else in the world. We see the prejudice of people and the struggle of the person that has been led to believe they brought shame on their family. Yet we also see courage in being the only person to stand up for something they believe. While this book is often filled with sadness, it also offers both the characters and the reader a lot of hope.

The author deals with very sensitive topics with great respect in No Honour. Along with that, he built wonderful characters that you grow to live and want to see succeed. This great novel is round up with detailed and knowledgable descriptions of the village and Lahore, helping them reader dive right into the story.

Although No Honour was a difficult read it was also an excellent read. Interested? Pick up your copy of the book here.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.