This Green And Pleasant Land by Ayisha Malik

          This is a book with so many levels that really one read through probably hasn't done it justice.  It is complex and multi-faceted and you find yourself drawn thoroughly in to this world that Ms Malik has created for us.  A world that is strangely familiar but manages to feel like it is one that only ever existed in the imagination, a place of nostalgia and of comfort but a place that only ever appeared in stories.  A Little England that our collective consciousness recognises and yearns for but that has never had a real place on the planet but that we have a faith that it existed and could exist if we only knew how to get there - a nirvana of English properness, old-fashioned but modern, full of upright propriety but truly inclusive and welcoming.

The strange thing about the book is not that the author can see both sides; it is her tale, her characters and they dictate their own behaviours.  It is that she can make the reader see both sides.  I found myself variously empathising with the pro-Mosque faction and then realising that the anti-Mosque faction had valid points too.  Personally speaking I have no Faith and have religion-based issues but to each their own and if it gives you happiness, hurts nobody and brings your soul peace then for goodness sake do it.  Somehow this seemed to be a message through the book too - live and let live, do the best you can and be the you that gives you contentment and peace.

On the face of it this book is about a small English Village that has accepted a Muslim couple in to their fold.  Bilal and Mariam with their son Haaris may be the only three brown faces in the village but they are included, they belong.  That is until Bilal's mother asks him to build a Mosque with her dying breath.  Suddenly their whole world changes, worse the whole village changes as it begins to fracture against change - some standing with Bilal, others opposing him.  At first I felt a sinking in my heart about this but as the plot develops and you realise how intricate each character is, their own personal back stories you can't help but be enchanted.

Shelley is the archetype of the Village busybody.  She runs the local Village Committee with the same iron fist she ran her school.  Her views are clearly delineated and she sees no need to change.  Then you slowly realise that her life is empty without the Village, her marriage is moribund and she is deeply, deeply lonely. 

Richard is the local Vicar who has a sure and certain Faith.  His Faith though isn't enough, personally he is all at sea and still searching for his niche, even after 15 years at the local church he isn't sure where he fits.  He has not lived up to his own expectations and now he is experiencing feelings, feelings that disturb him and leave him wondering how he should live.

Bilal is stuck, stuck between a Faith he isn't really a part of but is strangely defined by.  Stuck with a stomach ulcer that plagues him.  Stuck in the grief of a lost mother.  Stuck with a Khala who is now his responsibility.  Stuck between doing what he promised and stuck not knowing what is right.  Even worse he feels stuck in a marriage that is unravelling.

As the story unfolds it is Khala Rukhsana who is the catalyst for change.  Who through her simple devotion to Allah.  Her trust in Kismet.  Her ability to let people just be.  It is she who helps the village to reset, to admit their personal failings and move towards a better life.  Khala Rukhsana is the touchstone of the book, a truly beneficent soul who asks little of others but that they just slow down and accept life and themselves.

I could go on and on about the intricate relationships, the intricate personalities in the book but that would take another 450 pages and I am sure a review should not be as long as the book.  This Green And Pleasant Land urges you to look at yourself and to ditch your preconceptions about others and about yourself.  It urges you to really look around you and to look closely at those you see every day and to realise that they are a person too.

Even if you only surface read the book and take it all at face value it is a wonderful story that sucks you in until you realise hours have passed whilst you wandered the Village Green and dodged Tom's Red Robin Bush, maybe even whilst you popped in to The Ox for a refreshing drink or several.  Although you will find it hard not be sucked in to the subtler undercurrents and undertows.

A wonderful read that I was sad to complete.

THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED FROM READERS FIRST