Little Maryam has an exciting start (otherwise) which gives us a rather wrong impression of the personality of the central character, Dr Saadiq Haider. He behaves in a hurried and rough way with the lady, who is a journalist, Anne Miller. Even after she requests, the Nobel Prize winner doctor does not agree to talk to her even off the mic. However, his fear of flying compels Saadiq to agree on a deal offered by the lady journalist and open up about his past. And there, the central story of the novel starts.
Little Maryam appears to be a romance at the beginning as we find two characters caring for each other and gradually falling in love with each other – Maryam, the girl and Saadiq, the boy. The villain part is played by the difference between the wealth accumulation of their parents – Maryam is the daughter of a rich Indian army colonel and Saadiq is the son of a poor gardener who works in the garden of colonel. Still, love knows no boundaries and it started. Before anything could further, tragedy takes over the youthful love and Saadiq finds himself behind the bars and Maryam is married to someone else. Even before coming out of the jail, Saadiq also loses his father, Haji. And we get to know from the updated version of Saadiq that he is returning to India from the USA to meet Maryam once again. Maryam is said to be in a hospital as she met an accident. The first part can be assumed to end here and the second part, which is present, is even more exciting and full of unexpected twists.
Without going into the content of the book, let me tell my readers what I liked about the novel. The novel has a beautiful story – once you read it until the page count is over, you will be full of emotions! Hamid Baig, the author, has created a web of events which does not let the readers be dried of emotion for a moment. The one-sided love of Saadiq, his hesitation, the consultation with his father and finally, the first kiss of his life on Maryam’s birthday… everything is described beautifully and in a plain and simple language.
Another exciting thing in the novel is the way the story has been told. Unlike most of the debut novels where the authors cannot manage the momentum for long, Little Maryam will not let you put the Kindle reader or the physical book aside and claim – ‘the same boring jargon!’
Yes, at times, you might feel a little awe-struck when you see Saadiq achieving fame and money in his life – winning the Nobel Prize and getting to work in one of the most prestigious institutes of the world in the USA – and all this from a forcible joint caricature of broken pieces of a man! However, that might be the essential part of the novel because the author had to show to which extent love can take you.
And let me assure the readers that this is a novel which can certainly be finished within hours. It moves very fast and there are no brakes on the flow. If you are a regular reader of fiction, you will see the differences yourself. In short, Little Maryam is a novel which can entertain the readers on odd as well as even days!
Get your copy of the novel from the link below:
Little Maryam by Hamid Baig – Amazon India – buy now
Little Maryam - review at The Book Blog
- TBB Rating
Summary
A must read novel for the lovers of contemporary fiction
