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The novel begins as Aliya is on a London-bound airplane after graduating from college in Massachusetts. Aliya is a young Pakistani woman and is on her way home to Karachi. She is a natural storyteller and spends the flight relaying tales of her family, the Dar-e-Dils, to several of the other passengers. Throughout their history, the Dard-e-Dil family has had sets of `not-quite twins' who bring bad luck or shame to the family. Aliya tells tales of her family and these twins back to the time of the Mughals, during the time of the Partition of India and Pakistan, and up until modern day Pakistan. The novel alternates between the present day and Aliya's telling of the family legends. The book contains fabulous descriptions of food that made my mouth water. Shamsie has created excellent, vivid descriptions of meals cooked by Aliya's family's cook, Masood. The title of the book is derived from a discussion between Masood and another character regarding the use of spices. `Salt and Saffron' explores issues of misunderstandings and expectations between family members. It also raises the concept of fate and relations between different social classes. The prose did seem a bit `thick' and overly descriptive in parts, and probably could've been shortened, but it wasn't enough to detract from the book as a whole. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Indian/Pakistani literature and also to anyone who loves to read about food.

2023-07-08 08:50