A God In Every Stone

This tale of an English archaeologist, Vivien Spencer, two Pashtun brothers and their search for an ancient artefact is set in Peshawar during the last gasp of British rule in India. It culminates in the famous 1930 massacre in Peshawar’s Storyteller’s Market. Shamsie’s story is a rich but uneven exploration of the indomitability of the human spirit and divided loyalties. Elegant and atmospheric, it’s worthy and well-wrought but a little hard going at times.