Welcome to the Christmas Book Fair with some novels that would make amazing gifts.

The first novel is one I can highly recommend and is by Mary Smith …No More Mulberries

About the book

No More Mulberries is a story of commitment and divided loyalties, of love and loss, set against a country struggling through transition.

British-born Miriam’s marriage to her Afghan doctor husband is heading towards crisis. Despite his opposition, she goes to work as a translator at a medical teaching camp in a remote area of rural Afghanistan hoping time apart will help are see where their problems lie. She comes to realise how unresolved issues from when her first husband was killed by a mujahideen group are damaging her relationship with her husband and her son – but is it already too late to save her marriage?

One of the recent reviews for the book on Goodreads

No More Mulberries is the beautifully written story of Miriam and Iqbal, and of their family and working life in the rural village of Sang-i-Sia, Afghanistan. Miriam is a midwife who was born in Scotland, but wholeheartedly takes on the traditions and culture of her life in Afghanistan. Iqbal, her husband, is a doctor who has returned home after experiencing far more freedom when he lived in Pakistan.

This is Miriam’s second marriage and as the story develops it becomes clear that her first husband, Jawad, with whom she had a son, Farid, was murdered. Now, she and Iqbal also have a daughter together, Ruckshana.

At the start of the story there is already tension building in the relationship as Miriam takes umbrage when Iqbal cancels the English lessons she was giving to some boys as he felt they were inappropriate. This tension escalates when their boss, Jeanine, arrives, to carry out an inspection of the clinics they run.

Soon Miriam has to take decisions that she knows Iqbal won’t like and ends up facing her past, many years after she should have done. But maybe, just maybe, this is what’s needed to bring her and Iqbal back together.

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