About the Book: In the City by the Sea
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, Hasans 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