In the City by the Sea

Hasan is eleven years old. One summer morning, Hasan watches a young boy flying a yellow kite fall to his death. Set in a land ruled by an oppresive military regime, this novel recreates the confusing world of a young boy on the edge of adulthood, and illustrates the transformative power of the imagination.

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Hasan is eleven years old. He loves cricket, pomegranates, the night sky, his clever, vibrant artistic mother and his etymologically obsessed lawyer father, and he adores his next-door neighbour Zehra. One early summer morning, while lazing happily on the roof, Hasan watches a young boy flying a yellow kite fall to his death. Soon after, Hasan's idyllic, sheltered family life is shattered when his beloved uncle Salman, a dissenting politician, is arrested and charged with treason. Set in a land ruled by an oppresive military regime, this eloquent, charming and quietly political novel vividly recreates the confusing world of a young boy on the edge of adulthood, and beautifully illustrates the transformative power of the imagination.