What do you think?
Rate this book
A God in Every Stone
July 1914. Young Englishwoman Vivian Rose Spencer is running up a mountainside in an ancient land, surrounded by figs and cypresses. Soon she will discover the Temple of Zeus, the call of adventure, and the ecstasy of love. Thousands of miles away a twenty-year old Pathan, Qayyum Gul, is learning about brotherhood and loyalty in the British Indian army.
July, 1915. Qayyum Gul is returning home after losing an eye at Ypres, his allegiances in tatters. Viv is following the mysterious trail of her beloved. They meet on a train to Peshawar, unaware that a connection is about to be forged between their lives – one that will reveal itself fifteen years later, on the Street of Storytellers, when a brutal fight for freedom, an ancient artefact and a mysterious green-eyed woman will bring them together again.
A powerful story of friendship, injustice, love and betrayal, A God In Every Stone carries you across the globe, into the heart of empires fallen and conquered, reminding us that we all have our place in the chaos of history and that so much of what is lost will not be forgotten.
July, 1915. Qayyum Gul is returning home after losing an eye at Ypres, his allegiances in tatters. Viv is following the mysterious trail of her beloved. They meet on a train to Peshawar, unaware that a connection is about to be forged between their lives – one that will reveal itself fifteen years later, on the Street of Storytellers, when a brutal fight for freedom, an ancient artefact and a mysterious green-eyed woman will bring them together again.
A powerful story of friendship, injustice, love and betrayal, A God In Every Stone carries you across the globe, into the heart of empires fallen and conquered, reminding us that we all have our place in the chaos of history and that so much of what is lost will not be forgotten.
313 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
202 people are currently reading
4072 people want to read
About the author
Kamila Shamsie
59 books2,099 followersKamila Shamsie was born in 1973 in Karachi, where she grew up. She has a BA in Creative Writing from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. While at the University of Massachusetts she wrote
In The City By The Sea
, published by Granta Books UK in 1998. This first novel was shortlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys Award in the UK, and Shamsie received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literature in Pakistan in 1999. Her 2000 novel
Salt and Saffron
led to Shamsie’s selection as one of Orange’s “21 Writers of the 21st Century.” With her third novel,
Kartography
, Shamsie was again shortlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys award in the UK. Both Kartography and her next novel,
Broken Verses
, won the Patras Bokhari Award from the Academy of Letters in Pakistan. Burnt Shadows, Shamsie’s fifth novel, has been longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her books have been translated into a number of languages.
Shamsie is the daughter of literary critic and writer Muneeza Shamsie, the niece of celebrated Indian novelist Attia Hosain, and the granddaughter of the memoirist Begum Jahanara Habibullah. A reviewer and columnist, primarily for the Guardian, Shamsie has been a judge for several literary awards including The Orange Award for New Writing and The Guardian First Book Award. She also sits on the advisory board of the Index on Censorship.
For years Shamsie spent equal amounts of time in London and Karachi, while also occasionally teaching creative writing at Hamilton College in New York State. She now lives primarily in London.
Shamsie is the daughter of literary critic and writer Muneeza Shamsie, the niece of celebrated Indian novelist Attia Hosain, and the granddaughter of the memoirist Begum Jahanara Habibullah. A reviewer and columnist, primarily for the Guardian, Shamsie has been a judge for several literary awards including The Orange Award for New Writing and The Guardian First Book Award. She also sits on the advisory board of the Index on Censorship.
For years Shamsie spent equal amounts of time in London and Karachi, while also occasionally teaching creative writing at Hamilton College in New York State. She now lives primarily in London.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 397 reviews
July 20, 2015
This book is devastatingly perfect. I hesitate to compare it to anything else, but between the presence of Herodotus and the importance of archaeology, it reminded me a little of a more anti-imperial English Patient. There are also glorious, subversive echoes of Rudyard Kipling's Kim. And it is a book of dazzling, sensual, stunning prose; of vivid characters. Shamsie loves language, clearly, and it shows in how her characters engage with the world, as well as in the writing itself. A historical tapestry of immense scope is crafted through small and arresting details. I hesitate to say too much, lest I deprive the novel of any of its breathtaking power for others... but I loved it. Perhaps, as a historian, as a feminist, and as a romantic, I was especially likely to love it... but I will be recommending it to people who may identify with none of those labels. I have already recommended it. I loved this passionately; it brought me to tears, and I am so glad that I bought my own copy before returning the one I got from the library.
November 4, 2014
I discovered this novel when I listened to an interview with its author on a radio arts programme. Shamsie was interesting and engaging and the novel sounded appealing. It certainly ticked a lot of boxes: a focus on the separate but interwoven experiences of a young English female archeologist and of an Indian soldier during and in the aftermath of WWI, themes of individual, family and national loyalty and a vast sweep of history touching on the fall of three empires.
The novel delivers on its promise in a number of ways. Shamsie writes beautiful prose and her evocation of time and place is powerful. The scenes set in Peshawar and the description of the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre are particularly strong. However, character development is much less successful: I struggled to care very much about Shamsie's three main characters. This was a shame, because individually and collectively they had lots of potential and I wanted to be more moved by their stories than I was.
I think I would have liked the novel better if had concentrated on just one of the interwoven narratives and given me either Vivian's or Qayyum's story in more depth. Either that, or if it had had been a longer epic. As it is, the novel's too short and not detailed to be an epic and too much happens in too few pages to adequately carry the work's important themes. I like Shamsie's writing and I want to read more of it, but my first experience of her work was somewhat disappointing.
Another interesting buddy read with Jemidar.
Read
February 24, 2021At first glance,it seems interesting. It deals with vast sweeps of history,the travels of a fifth century explorer and twentieth century archeologists trying to dig out his circlet. Add the experiences of Indian army troops on the western front in World War I,and the killing of protesters,by the British army,in Peshawar in 1930.
But no sooner had I started reading,that I remembered Burnt Shadows,by the same author. That also tried to deal with too many different subjects,without looking like a cohesive story. Soon,I could see,that this book had a similar problem. And could Shamsie's research really be trusted ?
I lost patience,after a few chapters. Slow moving plot which feels disjointed and verycontrived. Hard to care about the story.
Abandoned.
But no sooner had I started reading,that I remembered Burnt Shadows,by the same author. That also tried to deal with too many different subjects,without looking like a cohesive story. Soon,I could see,that this book had a similar problem. And could Shamsie's research really be trusted ?
I lost patience,after a few chapters. Slow moving plot which feels disjointed and verycontrived. Hard to care about the story.
Abandoned.
September 1, 2014
A God in Every Stone is an ambitious novel in both theme and scope, but in the end one that I think over reaches itself.
Set largely in British India between 1914 and 1930, it tells the stories of Qayyum, a 20-year-old Pashtun soldier and Vivian, an adventurous young British woman with a passion for archaeology. Caught in the immense upheaval of the First World War and then the Indian uprisings, both characters experience devastating personal losses, and have to discover for themselves the cost of betrayal and the meaning of loyalty.
It should be an affecting read and yet it is hard to feel much for any of the characters. One reads about what they see, and sense, in often overwhelming detail, but very little is written about how they feel or how their thinking changes. The result is surprisingly dull.
The novel opens with quotes from Herodotus and scraps from the life of an ancient adventurer, Scylax. We soon learn that he was the faithful servant of empire who came to decide that his loyalties lay with his own people rather than to the Persian Emperor Darius. His story is connected to the present of the novel, firstly, through the quest for his missing silver headpiece, and secondly through the obvious analogy between the trusted Scylax and other servants of empire in the story: Tashin Bey, the Armenian Turk, who secretly supports the cause of independence, and the other loyal Pashtuns, who are sent to the frontlines in France to fight for the British Empire and then begin to question where their allegiance really lies.
It is Scylax’s lost silver circlet, symbol of imperial patronage, which brings Tashin Bey, and then Vivian to India, and finally connects all the characters as Vivian inspires her Indian protégée Najeeb to continue the search.
For me the Scylax story was problematic. It promised something epic, some interesting new perspective on the story of struggle between colonizers and colonized, but it didn’t really deliver. Beyond the truism that empires rise and fall and the observation that:
“If a man is to die defending a field, let the field be his field, the land his land, the people his people”,
there is not much more of substance to be had here.
The circlet though is the first of many circular references rippling through the novel. There are unraveling turbans, characters spinning on train platforms, journeys that end where they began, and chapters repeating the events of previous ones to give us a revolving perspective on all that is happening. The effect is somewhat dizzying. Enclosing it all though, just as Scylax’s story encloses the narrative, there is the great cycle of history and the sense that Vivian and Qayyum are part of something bigger. It is here I think that the novel over reaches.
Its climax unfolds on the Street of Storytellers from which perhaps we are supposed to intuit that these two stories are never really their own, but belong instead to a never ending and often shifting narrative. Unfortunately this has the effect of reducing the characters to somewhat predictable ciphers and in the absence of a more robust cache of ideas this reader simply lost interest.
One never doubts for example that Qayyum will begin to realize that his real loyalties lie with his own people. His trajectory of political awakening is a familiar one. Sent to fight along side the British in France during the First World War he is initially in love with this new world and full of pride for both his people and their service to Empire. In battle he loses an eye and as he recovers in a hospital in Brighton he begins ironically to “see” his situation differently. At first he is overwhelmed by gratitude that the British are looking after him. Their empire is like the great light of the chandelier in his hospital where:
“the King was the silver dragon, one single claw bearing the weight of smaller dragons, glass lotus flowers, a star of mirrors”.
Slowly however he senses something darker. All the young nurses are withdrawn from caring duties to Indians because Natives can’t be trusted with “our” women. Next he is forcibly denied access to his best friend and then lied to. When he eventually returns to India he is full of anger.
He remains torn however. His strongest sense of loyalty is still to the members of his brigade who are fighting in Europe. He feels ashamed of himself for being injured and he is alarmed by the radicalization of his friend Kalam, now back in India and working with the Turks to overthrow the British. As he tries to recover from a loss even greater than that of his eye, he learns to remove his “blindfold “and turns away from the path of revenge and blood feud and towards the cause of non violent struggle.
Despite this somewhat predictable political awakening, Qayyum’s character is the most fully developed and most interesting in the novel. Although it is hard to get a real sense of his inner struggle as he moves from faithful servant to campaigner for freedom, his grief at the loss of a friend is well handled, as is his desperate search for his younger brother Najeeb at the end of the novel.
Vivian on the other hand seems to become more one dimensional as the novel progresses, until she is finally just a faceless character trailing after others in a burqa. At first she is something of a romantic heroine, a naïve young Englishwoman finding her first love in the exotic setting of a dig in India. There are girlish blushes of embarrassment and thrilling vistas of “cloudless blue skies”.
Although she is depicted as a very unconventional young woman for her era, she also holds very conventional views. Opposed to women’s suffrage and comfortable with a world in which there are rulers and ruled, Natives and Englishmen, like Qayyum one never doubts that this story will be about her finding where her true loyalties lie.
Both her burgeoning romance and her naïve worldview are shattered by the outbreak of World War 1 when she returns to England and the grim routine of nursing victims from the war. Unfortunately her transformation happens at light speed. For me the great weakness of this book is the way in which it races through moments of trauma and transition while lingering on the decorative and descriptive.
While Qayyum is at least given some recovery time in which to process his losses, for Vivian it all happens in one short chapter. We are told about the horrors of nursing (there are bugs and dead people), her breakdown gets one quick paragraph and when we meet her next she is on her way back to India.
Here we’re taken back into a Merchant Ivory production. Lots of swirling sounds, colours and sensual descriptions as she bathes, sweats and wanders about.
It’s very unsatisfying and also quite unbelievable especially her putative passion for archaeology and quest for the circlet. When asked by her young protégée Najeeb “ Why do you English like to dig?” She gives the dim answer “To find history” and when he sensibly responds “Why?” She replies, “I don’t know”.
I’m not sure this is a credible response from someone who we are supposed to believe later becomes a senior lecturer at University College. It is however typical of the dull exchanges between her and others in the novel.
Overall I found the novel disjointed and unaffecting.
The last part of Book 2 is titled “The Only Question”. For me this was “What is happening?” Closely followed by “Do I care?”
Unfortunately the answer was no.
Set largely in British India between 1914 and 1930, it tells the stories of Qayyum, a 20-year-old Pashtun soldier and Vivian, an adventurous young British woman with a passion for archaeology. Caught in the immense upheaval of the First World War and then the Indian uprisings, both characters experience devastating personal losses, and have to discover for themselves the cost of betrayal and the meaning of loyalty.
It should be an affecting read and yet it is hard to feel much for any of the characters. One reads about what they see, and sense, in often overwhelming detail, but very little is written about how they feel or how their thinking changes. The result is surprisingly dull.
The novel opens with quotes from Herodotus and scraps from the life of an ancient adventurer, Scylax. We soon learn that he was the faithful servant of empire who came to decide that his loyalties lay with his own people rather than to the Persian Emperor Darius. His story is connected to the present of the novel, firstly, through the quest for his missing silver headpiece, and secondly through the obvious analogy between the trusted Scylax and other servants of empire in the story: Tashin Bey, the Armenian Turk, who secretly supports the cause of independence, and the other loyal Pashtuns, who are sent to the frontlines in France to fight for the British Empire and then begin to question where their allegiance really lies.
It is Scylax’s lost silver circlet, symbol of imperial patronage, which brings Tashin Bey, and then Vivian to India, and finally connects all the characters as Vivian inspires her Indian protégée Najeeb to continue the search.
For me the Scylax story was problematic. It promised something epic, some interesting new perspective on the story of struggle between colonizers and colonized, but it didn’t really deliver. Beyond the truism that empires rise and fall and the observation that:
“If a man is to die defending a field, let the field be his field, the land his land, the people his people”,
there is not much more of substance to be had here.
The circlet though is the first of many circular references rippling through the novel. There are unraveling turbans, characters spinning on train platforms, journeys that end where they began, and chapters repeating the events of previous ones to give us a revolving perspective on all that is happening. The effect is somewhat dizzying. Enclosing it all though, just as Scylax’s story encloses the narrative, there is the great cycle of history and the sense that Vivian and Qayyum are part of something bigger. It is here I think that the novel over reaches.
Its climax unfolds on the Street of Storytellers from which perhaps we are supposed to intuit that these two stories are never really their own, but belong instead to a never ending and often shifting narrative. Unfortunately this has the effect of reducing the characters to somewhat predictable ciphers and in the absence of a more robust cache of ideas this reader simply lost interest.
One never doubts for example that Qayyum will begin to realize that his real loyalties lie with his own people. His trajectory of political awakening is a familiar one. Sent to fight along side the British in France during the First World War he is initially in love with this new world and full of pride for both his people and their service to Empire. In battle he loses an eye and as he recovers in a hospital in Brighton he begins ironically to “see” his situation differently. At first he is overwhelmed by gratitude that the British are looking after him. Their empire is like the great light of the chandelier in his hospital where:
“the King was the silver dragon, one single claw bearing the weight of smaller dragons, glass lotus flowers, a star of mirrors”.
Slowly however he senses something darker. All the young nurses are withdrawn from caring duties to Indians because Natives can’t be trusted with “our” women. Next he is forcibly denied access to his best friend and then lied to. When he eventually returns to India he is full of anger.
He remains torn however. His strongest sense of loyalty is still to the members of his brigade who are fighting in Europe. He feels ashamed of himself for being injured and he is alarmed by the radicalization of his friend Kalam, now back in India and working with the Turks to overthrow the British. As he tries to recover from a loss even greater than that of his eye, he learns to remove his “blindfold “and turns away from the path of revenge and blood feud and towards the cause of non violent struggle.
Despite this somewhat predictable political awakening, Qayyum’s character is the most fully developed and most interesting in the novel. Although it is hard to get a real sense of his inner struggle as he moves from faithful servant to campaigner for freedom, his grief at the loss of a friend is well handled, as is his desperate search for his younger brother Najeeb at the end of the novel.
Vivian on the other hand seems to become more one dimensional as the novel progresses, until she is finally just a faceless character trailing after others in a burqa. At first she is something of a romantic heroine, a naïve young Englishwoman finding her first love in the exotic setting of a dig in India. There are girlish blushes of embarrassment and thrilling vistas of “cloudless blue skies”.
Although she is depicted as a very unconventional young woman for her era, she also holds very conventional views. Opposed to women’s suffrage and comfortable with a world in which there are rulers and ruled, Natives and Englishmen, like Qayyum one never doubts that this story will be about her finding where her true loyalties lie.
Both her burgeoning romance and her naïve worldview are shattered by the outbreak of World War 1 when she returns to England and the grim routine of nursing victims from the war. Unfortunately her transformation happens at light speed. For me the great weakness of this book is the way in which it races through moments of trauma and transition while lingering on the decorative and descriptive.
While Qayyum is at least given some recovery time in which to process his losses, for Vivian it all happens in one short chapter. We are told about the horrors of nursing (there are bugs and dead people), her breakdown gets one quick paragraph and when we meet her next she is on her way back to India.
Here we’re taken back into a Merchant Ivory production. Lots of swirling sounds, colours and sensual descriptions as she bathes, sweats and wanders about.
It’s very unsatisfying and also quite unbelievable especially her putative passion for archaeology and quest for the circlet. When asked by her young protégée Najeeb “ Why do you English like to dig?” She gives the dim answer “To find history” and when he sensibly responds “Why?” She replies, “I don’t know”.
I’m not sure this is a credible response from someone who we are supposed to believe later becomes a senior lecturer at University College. It is however typical of the dull exchanges between her and others in the novel.
Overall I found the novel disjointed and unaffecting.
The last part of Book 2 is titled “The Only Question”. For me this was “What is happening?” Closely followed by “Do I care?”
Unfortunately the answer was no.
September 28, 2016
"Bog u svakom kamenu", K. Shamsie, Buybook, 2016.g.
Povijest, arheologija, borba za neovisnost, međuljudski odnosi... a sve to jako lijepo složeno u priču o britanskoj arheologinji i dva brata Indijca čiji se životu isprepliću tijekom prve polovice 20st. i indijske borbe za neovisnost od Velike Britanije. Kompleksan roman utemeljeno na povijesnim činjenicama o kojima i nema puno knjiga...Bravo za autoricu!
Povijest, arheologija, borba za neovisnost, međuljudski odnosi... a sve to jako lijepo složeno u priču o britanskoj arheologinji i dva brata Indijca čiji se životu isprepliću tijekom prve polovice 20st. i indijske borbe za neovisnost od Velike Britanije. Kompleksan roman utemeljeno na povijesnim činjenicama o kojima i nema puno knjiga...Bravo za autoricu!
April 26, 2017
This is one of the best books I have read this year.
A cleverly constructed multi-threaded historical novel, largely set in the city of Peshawar - the central personal stories are gripping, and the novel explores deeper themes of empires and their legacies, the nature of archaelogy and the experiences of Asians who served the British in Europe during the First World War.
Moving, lyrical and highly impressive.
A cleverly constructed multi-threaded historical novel, largely set in the city of Peshawar - the central personal stories are gripping, and the novel explores deeper themes of empires and their legacies, the nature of archaelogy and the experiences of Asians who served the British in Europe during the First World War.
Moving, lyrical and highly impressive.
January 19, 2018
Another super ambitious book by Shamsie, this one about Peshawar just after WWI and then again in the 1930s and featuring an English archeologist, a young Pakistani boy with an interest in history and his older brother, a veteran of the British army who gets involved in anti-colonial politics once he returns to Pakistan. It doesn't all come together and I would have loved a Peshawar street map but I really admire what Shamsie is trying to do. And you do want to know about Greco-Buddhist art because it's fascinating.
April 28, 2014
Kamila Shamsie’s fiction crosses international boundaries. Burnt Shadows, her last novel, was a globe-trotting novel set in Japan, India, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and the US. I said of that novel that it was about people caught in “the tidal swell of history”, and it is a comment that could apply usefully to her new novel, A God in Every Stone.
In his histories, the father of the subject, Herodotus, told the story of Scylax, a man from Caryanda, who set off on a journey from the city of Caspatyrus, in the land of the Pactyike. This city is modern-day Peshawar, in the borderland of western Pakistan, close to the Afghan border. Shamsie uses this story to bookend her new novel, as her own characters travel to Caspatyrus, or Peshawar. As with Burnt Shadows, Shamsie uses a historical setting to explore more modern issues. In a novel that covers twenty-odd years in the life of its central characters – archaeologist Vivian Spencer, and Pathan soldier Qayyum Gul and his brother Najeeb – from the battle fields of Ypres to the streets of Peshawar – they become involved in a quest for an ancient artefact as the British rule in this city begins to loosen, and violence spills out onto its streets.
A God in Every Stone contains moments of descriptive brilliance. It is no surprise to learn Shamsie was selected by Granta as one of the Best of Young British Novelists; there are lines here to savour. She is very good on the minutiae of a life, of creating those moments that live on the page with intensity. The relationships between Vivian, Qayyum and Najeeb are expertly drawn, and when her focus narrows to the interactions between them, Shamsie’s novel truly sings. There is a scene in a train carriage, headed towards Peshawar, when Vivian meets Qayyum for the first time, and you can taste the tobacco laced in the air, the dust of the landscape rushing by, and the fizzling heat of fascination they breed in each other. In such scenes Shamsie manages to ask many of the novels overarching themes with economy and grace, such as when Qayyum muses on what it means to be Pashtun, uncomfortable at first with such description, and Vivian attempts to navigate, somewhat unsuccessfully, the cultural differences that divide them.
For all its success, however, there are moments when A God in Every Stone does fail. The first half of the novel covers two years after the First World War, and the second a short number of days in April 1930. The first half of the novel rushes through history, barely allowing the reader time to catch a breath – we are pulled along by that tidal swell of history. In these post-WW1 moments, it is difficult to gain much emotional understanding of Vivian, and even less of Qayyam; they are characters suffering history, buffeted by its storm. It is only in the second half that we truly begin to appreciate the characters. Certainly the first half is not wasted – this history feeds into the characters and affects them and their actions – but in comparison with the effort and control Shamsie exerts in the second half, the first feels underdrawn.
A God in Every Stone, then, whilst not as successful as Burnt Shadows, is nevertheless a strong, potent novel, whose historical canvas is used to tell another riveting, important story with contemporary resonances. Shamsie should be applauded for writing about such intersections of history, where culture and faith come into conflict with politics and identity; few novelists are willing to take on the ‘Big Subjects’. That she does so without becoming dogmatic or dull, and retaining heart within her narrative, is testament to her brilliance. A God in Every Stone might not be Shasmie at her finest, but it is a damn sight better than many another writers’ best.
In his histories, the father of the subject, Herodotus, told the story of Scylax, a man from Caryanda, who set off on a journey from the city of Caspatyrus, in the land of the Pactyike. This city is modern-day Peshawar, in the borderland of western Pakistan, close to the Afghan border. Shamsie uses this story to bookend her new novel, as her own characters travel to Caspatyrus, or Peshawar. As with Burnt Shadows, Shamsie uses a historical setting to explore more modern issues. In a novel that covers twenty-odd years in the life of its central characters – archaeologist Vivian Spencer, and Pathan soldier Qayyum Gul and his brother Najeeb – from the battle fields of Ypres to the streets of Peshawar – they become involved in a quest for an ancient artefact as the British rule in this city begins to loosen, and violence spills out onto its streets.
A God in Every Stone contains moments of descriptive brilliance. It is no surprise to learn Shamsie was selected by Granta as one of the Best of Young British Novelists; there are lines here to savour. She is very good on the minutiae of a life, of creating those moments that live on the page with intensity. The relationships between Vivian, Qayyum and Najeeb are expertly drawn, and when her focus narrows to the interactions between them, Shamsie’s novel truly sings. There is a scene in a train carriage, headed towards Peshawar, when Vivian meets Qayyum for the first time, and you can taste the tobacco laced in the air, the dust of the landscape rushing by, and the fizzling heat of fascination they breed in each other. In such scenes Shamsie manages to ask many of the novels overarching themes with economy and grace, such as when Qayyum muses on what it means to be Pashtun, uncomfortable at first with such description, and Vivian attempts to navigate, somewhat unsuccessfully, the cultural differences that divide them.
For all its success, however, there are moments when A God in Every Stone does fail. The first half of the novel covers two years after the First World War, and the second a short number of days in April 1930. The first half of the novel rushes through history, barely allowing the reader time to catch a breath – we are pulled along by that tidal swell of history. In these post-WW1 moments, it is difficult to gain much emotional understanding of Vivian, and even less of Qayyam; they are characters suffering history, buffeted by its storm. It is only in the second half that we truly begin to appreciate the characters. Certainly the first half is not wasted – this history feeds into the characters and affects them and their actions – but in comparison with the effort and control Shamsie exerts in the second half, the first feels underdrawn.
A God in Every Stone, then, whilst not as successful as Burnt Shadows, is nevertheless a strong, potent novel, whose historical canvas is used to tell another riveting, important story with contemporary resonances. Shamsie should be applauded for writing about such intersections of history, where culture and faith come into conflict with politics and identity; few novelists are willing to take on the ‘Big Subjects’. That she does so without becoming dogmatic or dull, and retaining heart within her narrative, is testament to her brilliance. A God in Every Stone might not be Shasmie at her finest, but it is a damn sight better than many another writers’ best.
May 12, 2015
Having recently watched and loved Indian Summers, and being already interested in the era of the British Empire in India, I was looking forward to reading this novel.
Evocatively written, Shamsie transported me to Peshawar and created a cast of believable characters, from Vivian, the fearless young woman trying to make her way in a man's world, Qayyam, injured in fighting a war for Britain, and Najeeb, a boy intrigued by culture and history.
However, the first half left me desperate for some action. We had met three characters, but the introductions felt brief as much of the text was given to lengthy descriptions of archeological discoveries from thousands of years ago, and stories from Greek mythology, which I struggled to maintain an interest in. Two of the most intriguing characters, two local women caught up in a massacre, were disappointingly brought in moments before the book ends.
All of the action happens in the last 30 pages of the book - a disturbing exploration of a terrible moment in history thrillingly told - and demonstrated Shamsie's talent as a writer, but ultimately this didn't translate through the whole novel and I felt much of the archeological detail detracted from the thrust of the story. The end of the novel was disappointing - there was no real resolution, and I felt that trying to span so many years just didn't work. It's possible I don't know enough about the struggle for independence, India's role in the First World War, or Greek history, but a decent novel probably shouldn't leave me wondering if this would have improved my enjoyment.
Evocatively written, Shamsie transported me to Peshawar and created a cast of believable characters, from Vivian, the fearless young woman trying to make her way in a man's world, Qayyam, injured in fighting a war for Britain, and Najeeb, a boy intrigued by culture and history.
However, the first half left me desperate for some action. We had met three characters, but the introductions felt brief as much of the text was given to lengthy descriptions of archeological discoveries from thousands of years ago, and stories from Greek mythology, which I struggled to maintain an interest in. Two of the most intriguing characters, two local women caught up in a massacre, were disappointingly brought in moments before the book ends.
All of the action happens in the last 30 pages of the book - a disturbing exploration of a terrible moment in history thrillingly told - and demonstrated Shamsie's talent as a writer, but ultimately this didn't translate through the whole novel and I felt much of the archeological detail detracted from the thrust of the story. The end of the novel was disappointing - there was no real resolution, and I felt that trying to span so many years just didn't work. It's possible I don't know enough about the struggle for independence, India's role in the First World War, or Greek history, but a decent novel probably shouldn't leave me wondering if this would have improved my enjoyment.
April 5, 2018
An epic historical novel, spanning about 25 years in and around Peshawar. There's archaeology, war, betrayal, heartbreak and the stirrings of the Indian independence movement. All these plot points are weaved around three main characters - an English woman who originally goes to Peshawar to look for an ancient artifact and two brothers whose lives intersect with hers. It all felt a bit self-consciously grandiose to start with, but the plot slowly sucked me in and by the end I was swept up in it all.
October 4, 2017
Some novels grow larger as the ideas multiply. In this novel, Kamilla Shamsie has tried to contain hers into a small space. So much so, that it can be mistaken for a first novel. The result is that transitions between the different characters and the spaces they inhabit feel abrupt, not to say initially confusing. The saving grace is Shamsie’s prose style and her integrity as a writer.
Vivienne Rose Spencer has been brought up to be an independent person by her family. This was quite a liberal attitude, in an era of suffragettes and their struggle to obtain the vote. She may not approve of her friend’s efforts in that direction, yet she believes in a woman’s right to follow her own path. She remembers being enchanted as a child by tales from Herodotus, which were told by a family friend, the Turkish archaeologist Tahsin Bey. One story in particular inspired her, the story of a silver circlet embossed with figs that once belonged to Scylax at the time of the Persian Empire. The mystery of this buried treasure lures both her and Tahsin Bey to the East. In 1914, she finds herself in Labraunda (Caria) taking part in an archaeological dig alongside some Germans and Tahsin Bey. He embodies everything she loves about the East. She falls in love with him and with the region itself. Much as she loves her father, this is where she thinks she belongs. World events are about to shatter her ambitions, for now.
According to Herodotus, Darius sent an expedition to find out where the sea joined the river Indus. Scylax was a member of the expedition, one of his true men. He was from the city of Caspatyrus in the land of Pactyike. He was given the circlet of embossed figs for his loyalty and enterprise.
The quest for Scylax’s circlet is a thread that runs through the novel, and the circlet and Scylax acquire an aura of significance, mystery and beauty in Vivienne’s mind; yet subsequent events in the region conspire to alter perceptions. Caspatyrus is believed by some historians to be Peshawar, and that is how it is seen in the story. Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, where the river Kabul flows, it is a volatile area where different tribal loyalties reside, reflected in the various spoken languages, loyalties that are capable of causing crises and dilemmas, and igniting deadly conflict.
No less than three empires play their part in the novel – the Persian Empire, the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire. It is the more intimate relationships, however, that are the most engaging, in particular that between the Englishwoman and the two Pashtun brothers.
The story towards the end is devoted to the Indian war of independence. Vivienne’s love of the people and the country do not prevent her from being seen as the British outsider, always the “English Lady”, the one who belongs to a conquering Empire. These were impressionable times. As the Pashtun are at the centre of the story.. everything is coloured by their point of view. They are the ones who were subjugated after all, and it is natural to side with them. Despite all this, the appearance of two newish characters, who had earlier flitted in and out like ghosts, sits uneasily inside the story. The balance has shifted.
There are many interesting strands, of divided loyalties, of changes in how friends, family, former attachments, one’s country are perceived, many parallels with the past, and even the present, but their very multiplicity weakens their impact. However much Kamila Shamsie focuses on the distant past, with King Darius and his Scylax, there is altogether too much emotion invested in the relatively recent episodes in Indian history before partition, to make it an entirely satisfying read, or the equal of Home Fire. Still, this is Shamsie territory, sensuous and immediate, and it is a delight.
Here is a description of the skin of a snake:
...a weightless, transparent snake, even the shape of its eyes intact. When he held it up against the sunlight, rainbows danced crazily along the length of it, as though something were swirliing into life and he dropped it in terror.
This is evocative, and at the same time an insight into the mind and spirit of Najeeb, the young Pashtun:
Through the alleys he goes, through one bazaar and then the other. Everything silent and bolted, it is as though he is looking at a half finished sketch of the city. Everything static, except for him. Oh, and a large red butterfly drifiting lazily through the wafting stench of a caravan of camels
He is grateful that the clutter of the present is largely absent so that nothing obstructs his view of the Old City walls and arched gateways, the ancient hills and mountains. What he most loves in Peshawar is the proximity of the past. All around the broken bowl of the Peshawar Valley his glance knows how to burn away time. So in a single day he might encounnter the Chinese monk Fa Hien throwing flowers into the Buddha’s alms bowl at Gor Khatri, while recalling the eight elephants who with their united strength could not drag the alms bowl away from the monastery, the Kushan King Kanishka laying the foundation for the Great Stupa which the Buddha had prophesied he would build, the Mugal emperor Babar….
And again:
He runs towards a tumult. Everyone in the Walled City seems to have heard what has happened, dozens making their way to the Street of the Storytellers; people standing on roofs and leaning from balconies catching rumours out of the air and tossing them down into the alley. A car on fire, an Englishman knocked down with a stone; a horse, something about a horse; an Englishman run over by a motorcycle, No, an Engishman on a motorcycle run over by a horse…...
Vivienne Rose Spencer has been brought up to be an independent person by her family. This was quite a liberal attitude, in an era of suffragettes and their struggle to obtain the vote. She may not approve of her friend’s efforts in that direction, yet she believes in a woman’s right to follow her own path. She remembers being enchanted as a child by tales from Herodotus, which were told by a family friend, the Turkish archaeologist Tahsin Bey. One story in particular inspired her, the story of a silver circlet embossed with figs that once belonged to Scylax at the time of the Persian Empire. The mystery of this buried treasure lures both her and Tahsin Bey to the East. In 1914, she finds herself in Labraunda (Caria) taking part in an archaeological dig alongside some Germans and Tahsin Bey. He embodies everything she loves about the East. She falls in love with him and with the region itself. Much as she loves her father, this is where she thinks she belongs. World events are about to shatter her ambitions, for now.
According to Herodotus, Darius sent an expedition to find out where the sea joined the river Indus. Scylax was a member of the expedition, one of his true men. He was from the city of Caspatyrus in the land of Pactyike. He was given the circlet of embossed figs for his loyalty and enterprise.
The quest for Scylax’s circlet is a thread that runs through the novel, and the circlet and Scylax acquire an aura of significance, mystery and beauty in Vivienne’s mind; yet subsequent events in the region conspire to alter perceptions. Caspatyrus is believed by some historians to be Peshawar, and that is how it is seen in the story. Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, where the river Kabul flows, it is a volatile area where different tribal loyalties reside, reflected in the various spoken languages, loyalties that are capable of causing crises and dilemmas, and igniting deadly conflict.
No less than three empires play their part in the novel – the Persian Empire, the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire. It is the more intimate relationships, however, that are the most engaging, in particular that between the Englishwoman and the two Pashtun brothers.
The story towards the end is devoted to the Indian war of independence. Vivienne’s love of the people and the country do not prevent her from being seen as the British outsider, always the “English Lady”, the one who belongs to a conquering Empire. These were impressionable times. As the Pashtun are at the centre of the story.. everything is coloured by their point of view. They are the ones who were subjugated after all, and it is natural to side with them. Despite all this, the appearance of two newish characters, who had earlier flitted in and out like ghosts, sits uneasily inside the story. The balance has shifted.
There are many interesting strands, of divided loyalties, of changes in how friends, family, former attachments, one’s country are perceived, many parallels with the past, and even the present, but their very multiplicity weakens their impact. However much Kamila Shamsie focuses on the distant past, with King Darius and his Scylax, there is altogether too much emotion invested in the relatively recent episodes in Indian history before partition, to make it an entirely satisfying read, or the equal of Home Fire. Still, this is Shamsie territory, sensuous and immediate, and it is a delight.
Here is a description of the skin of a snake:
...a weightless, transparent snake, even the shape of its eyes intact. When he held it up against the sunlight, rainbows danced crazily along the length of it, as though something were swirliing into life and he dropped it in terror.
This is evocative, and at the same time an insight into the mind and spirit of Najeeb, the young Pashtun:
Through the alleys he goes, through one bazaar and then the other. Everything silent and bolted, it is as though he is looking at a half finished sketch of the city. Everything static, except for him. Oh, and a large red butterfly drifiting lazily through the wafting stench of a caravan of camels
He is grateful that the clutter of the present is largely absent so that nothing obstructs his view of the Old City walls and arched gateways, the ancient hills and mountains. What he most loves in Peshawar is the proximity of the past. All around the broken bowl of the Peshawar Valley his glance knows how to burn away time. So in a single day he might encounnter the Chinese monk Fa Hien throwing flowers into the Buddha’s alms bowl at Gor Khatri, while recalling the eight elephants who with their united strength could not drag the alms bowl away from the monastery, the Kushan King Kanishka laying the foundation for the Great Stupa which the Buddha had prophesied he would build, the Mugal emperor Babar….
And again:
He runs towards a tumult. Everyone in the Walled City seems to have heard what has happened, dozens making their way to the Street of the Storytellers; people standing on roofs and leaning from balconies catching rumours out of the air and tossing them down into the alley. A car on fire, an Englishman knocked down with a stone; a horse, something about a horse; an Englishman run over by a motorcycle, No, an Engishman on a motorcycle run over by a horse…...
November 8, 2014
After Salt and Saffron, which I found silly, I decided not to read more Shamsie books. But someone told me that if I liked Uzma Aslam Khan's The Geometry of God, which came out several years ago, I'd like A God in Every Stone. My response: that's the problem.
The Geometry of God begins with a girl in Pakistan finding a rock that turns out to be a fossil of great consequence. From there the story traces' the girl's struggle to overcome political and social barriers to be credited for her discovry, and be included in more adventures and finds, against gorgeous descriptions of rocks, and the natural landscape of north Pakistan. Shamsie's book has a different milieu; pre-partition India (in the region that's now Pakistan, close to where Geometry is set), WWI, and the role of Indian soldiers in British armies. The latter is handled quite well, hence two stars. But the borrowed central metaphor annoyed me. In The Geometry of God, to "dig" is to look below the surface to find a history that is unseen, unsung. And also to find God -- a God who is inclusive and felt most by those who have lost their physical sight (one of the strongest characters is blind). Doesn't this sound familiar? Khan has from her earliest work explored themes of nature, marginalization, and God (see her profile in The Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-a...), while Shamsie's earlier works scarcely acknowledge a tree or anything not from an elite Karachi drawing room. I should be glad her newer work is evolving, yet I'm feeling uneasy. Even the titles are too alike.
The Geometry of God begins with a girl in Pakistan finding a rock that turns out to be a fossil of great consequence. From there the story traces' the girl's struggle to overcome political and social barriers to be credited for her discovry, and be included in more adventures and finds, against gorgeous descriptions of rocks, and the natural landscape of north Pakistan. Shamsie's book has a different milieu; pre-partition India (in the region that's now Pakistan, close to where Geometry is set), WWI, and the role of Indian soldiers in British armies. The latter is handled quite well, hence two stars. But the borrowed central metaphor annoyed me. In The Geometry of God, to "dig" is to look below the surface to find a history that is unseen, unsung. And also to find God -- a God who is inclusive and felt most by those who have lost their physical sight (one of the strongest characters is blind). Doesn't this sound familiar? Khan has from her earliest work explored themes of nature, marginalization, and God (see her profile in The Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-a...), while Shamsie's earlier works scarcely acknowledge a tree or anything not from an elite Karachi drawing room. I should be glad her newer work is evolving, yet I'm feeling uneasy. Even the titles are too alike.
April 21, 2014
Kamila Shamsie is easily one of the finest storytellers from Pakistan and I have been an ardent fan.I LOVE her! However, 'A God In Every Stone' left me disappointed; it left me wanting for more. In fact I was searching for 'The Kamila Shamsie' of Kartography and Burnt Shadows.
Like all her books the story here is also set in the sub-continent. The protagonist travels from Britain to Turkey to India in search for a past that fascinates her. The story unfolds what covers the travels of the fifth-century BCE explorer Scylax, working on behalf of the Persian king Darius. Kamila weaves an interesting story full of adventure and mystery as the protagonist wishes to find the 'circlet' somewhere in Peshawar. I was glued to the story initially but as it progresses and moves back to Britain and parallely Qayyum's story comes into play, I couldn't help but feel tired. After a point I felt I was reading some other author. To put it simply, I was bored.
The only time I felt Kamila was at her usual self was in the last few pages. I could feel the love, sorrow, pain and most importantly 'India'(Now Pakistan)in it. I could connect more to Diwa who appears towards the end than to Vivian who is all over the place. I also liked the way she etched out Najeeb's character. Kamila is a genius when it comes to love stories and she proves it yet again when she talks about Najeeb and Diwa's love towards each other. Also, like always the city is an important part of her stories and after reading it I would love to visit Peshawar before I bid adieu to the world!
A God In Every Stone is undoubtedly good but with Kamila, I wouldn't settle for anything other than Best.
Like all her books the story here is also set in the sub-continent. The protagonist travels from Britain to Turkey to India in search for a past that fascinates her. The story unfolds what covers the travels of the fifth-century BCE explorer Scylax, working on behalf of the Persian king Darius. Kamila weaves an interesting story full of adventure and mystery as the protagonist wishes to find the 'circlet' somewhere in Peshawar. I was glued to the story initially but as it progresses and moves back to Britain and parallely Qayyum's story comes into play, I couldn't help but feel tired. After a point I felt I was reading some other author. To put it simply, I was bored.
The only time I felt Kamila was at her usual self was in the last few pages. I could feel the love, sorrow, pain and most importantly 'India'(Now Pakistan)in it. I could connect more to Diwa who appears towards the end than to Vivian who is all over the place. I also liked the way she etched out Najeeb's character. Kamila is a genius when it comes to love stories and she proves it yet again when she talks about Najeeb and Diwa's love towards each other. Also, like always the city is an important part of her stories and after reading it I would love to visit Peshawar before I bid adieu to the world!
A God In Every Stone is undoubtedly good but with Kamila, I wouldn't settle for anything other than Best.
June 7, 2016
Viagem a Peshawar
Viagem à culturalmente rica e exótica Peshawar, revolvendo um subsolo onde jazem os 2500 anos de história que a edificaram.
Um romance histórico estranho e original !
Viagem à culturalmente rica e exótica Peshawar, revolvendo um subsolo onde jazem os 2500 anos de história que a edificaram.
Um romance histórico estranho e original !
February 18, 2021
James Wood'un Hayatın En Yakın Benzeri adlı kitabı olmasa, Taşlarda Gizli Tanrılar kitabından haberim olmayacaktı. Farklı odalara açılan kitapları seviyorum, tıpkı holü farklı odalara açılan rum evleri gibi. Bir kitap, başka kitaplardan elbette bahsetmeli ki okunacaklar listemiz hiç bitmesin. Milas'a yakın Labranda antik kentinde başlıyor roman. Ardından Peşaver'e yapılan yolculuk, Peştunlar, Qissa Khawani Katliamı, Skylaks'ın incirli tacı, Buda, Gazi Kayyum, arkeolog Vivien. Farklı iki kültür. Uzun zamandır beni böyle etkileyen roman okumamıştım. Necip karakterini çok sevdim. Sorduğu soruları, düşüncelerini ve karanlığın tam ortasından aydınlığa bakma çabasını da sevdim.
"Okuldan sonra camide hocayla geçirmem gereken saatte buraya okumaya geliyorum. En çok Mr. Dickens'ı seviyorum. Ağabeyim o süreyi öğrenmeye ayırdığım sürece yanlış olmadığını söylüyor."
"Deneyimlerime göre, yobazlar miskinliği her zaman azme tercih ederler."
"Okuldan sonra camide hocayla geçirmem gereken saatte buraya okumaya geliyorum. En çok Mr. Dickens'ı seviyorum. Ağabeyim o süreyi öğrenmeye ayırdığım sürece yanlış olmadığını söylüyor."
"Deneyimlerime göre, yobazlar miskinliği her zaman azme tercih ederler."
December 19, 2014
This book is a delight. It is an evocatively written, highly intelligent, multi layered novel. It is constantly surprising, with a narrative frequently changing direction, making reading it a bit like herding the proverbial cats.
The story opens with Vivian Rose Spencer, a young Englishwoman, fascinated by archaeology, working on a dig in Turkey with German and Turkish academics on the eve of World War I. As she works she gradually becomes aware of a mutual attraction with one of her workmates. The writing makes the relationship stunningly erotic whilst also remaining chaste. Before things can progress, global conflict catches fire and Viv is returned to London where she becomes a nurse caring for wounded soldiers.
The second main chord of the narrative is introduced in the form of Qayyum Gul, a soldier in the Indian army fighting on the Western Front. Initially patriotic towards the imperial power, his experiences slowly open his reluctant eyes to the reality of his situation.
The two tales intersect fleetingly as Viv and Qayyum meet briefly on a train travelling to Peshawar, she in search of her lost love, he returning home.
As Viv meets and becomes mentor to a young boy, the story moves on from World War I to being a tale of the struggle for Indian independence.
At the basic level, this is the story of Viv's search for her lover, and for a lost artefact, of Qayyums journey from empire loyalist to rebel, and of the young boy, Najeeb's intellectual development. Shamsie uses these tales to explore themes of imperialism, of individual morality, of gender politics and of personal and political betrayal in both the 20th century and in the ancient world.
The writing is enormously vivid, especially in the scenes set in the Walled City of Peshawar where the confusion of noises and sights become at times almost hallucinogenic. This is a book which contains scenes of great violence but somehow remains very gentle and positive about the human spirit.
The end of the book is also perfect. It is not an explosive crescendo. It is a bittersweet moment which captures in the reactions of individuals, all of the themes of imperialism and independence which have come before.
Highly recommended.
The story opens with Vivian Rose Spencer, a young Englishwoman, fascinated by archaeology, working on a dig in Turkey with German and Turkish academics on the eve of World War I. As she works she gradually becomes aware of a mutual attraction with one of her workmates. The writing makes the relationship stunningly erotic whilst also remaining chaste. Before things can progress, global conflict catches fire and Viv is returned to London where she becomes a nurse caring for wounded soldiers.
The second main chord of the narrative is introduced in the form of Qayyum Gul, a soldier in the Indian army fighting on the Western Front. Initially patriotic towards the imperial power, his experiences slowly open his reluctant eyes to the reality of his situation.
The two tales intersect fleetingly as Viv and Qayyum meet briefly on a train travelling to Peshawar, she in search of her lost love, he returning home.
As Viv meets and becomes mentor to a young boy, the story moves on from World War I to being a tale of the struggle for Indian independence.
At the basic level, this is the story of Viv's search for her lover, and for a lost artefact, of Qayyums journey from empire loyalist to rebel, and of the young boy, Najeeb's intellectual development. Shamsie uses these tales to explore themes of imperialism, of individual morality, of gender politics and of personal and political betrayal in both the 20th century and in the ancient world.
The writing is enormously vivid, especially in the scenes set in the Walled City of Peshawar where the confusion of noises and sights become at times almost hallucinogenic. This is a book which contains scenes of great violence but somehow remains very gentle and positive about the human spirit.
The end of the book is also perfect. It is not an explosive crescendo. It is a bittersweet moment which captures in the reactions of individuals, all of the themes of imperialism and independence which have come before.
Highly recommended.
May 9, 2015
This novel is shortlisted for the Bailey’s book prize and it held a lot of appeal to me: a female archaeologist studying Classics around the first world war, a star-crossed love story, interwoven experiences centuries apart and the exoticism of colonial India.
Shamsie delivers in many ways, her study of the changing role of women around the turn of the century and during WWI was interesting:
“How quickly everything that was inconceivable for a woman has become her duty. Isn’t it miraculous that competence has sprang up in us in the exact shape of men’s needs”
Vivian spent her youth trying to make up to her father for being born a girl - she achieves academically, travels Europe as an archaeologist and later works hard as a VAD nurse when war breaks.
The archaeology of Turkey, the bustling streets of Peshawar and the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre are all vividly drawn however I was not enough engaged with the characters to be drawn into this world. There are several marvellous coincidences which are meant to demonstrate the hand of fate but in most cases come across as contrived narrative techniques.
This is quite a short novel and is split between the perspectives of Vivian, Qayyam and Najeeb - it was too short to feel attached to any of them: either this could have been Vivian’s story, or an epic exploring all three characters in depth.
The ending of the novel was more exciting and the brief love story described more passionate and memorable than any of the previous relationships or interchanges, but still not enough to make this a remarkable novel.
Shamsie delivers in many ways, her study of the changing role of women around the turn of the century and during WWI was interesting:
“How quickly everything that was inconceivable for a woman has become her duty. Isn’t it miraculous that competence has sprang up in us in the exact shape of men’s needs”
Vivian spent her youth trying to make up to her father for being born a girl - she achieves academically, travels Europe as an archaeologist and later works hard as a VAD nurse when war breaks.
The archaeology of Turkey, the bustling streets of Peshawar and the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre are all vividly drawn however I was not enough engaged with the characters to be drawn into this world. There are several marvellous coincidences which are meant to demonstrate the hand of fate but in most cases come across as contrived narrative techniques.
This is quite a short novel and is split between the perspectives of Vivian, Qayyam and Najeeb - it was too short to feel attached to any of them: either this could have been Vivian’s story, or an epic exploring all three characters in depth.
The ending of the novel was more exciting and the brief love story described more passionate and memorable than any of the previous relationships or interchanges, but still not enough to make this a remarkable novel.
January 29, 2020
What a ride 😭. I'm so glad I gave this book a chance. Few chapters in and I was discouraged by the archeology 'stuff' but it was all worth it in the end.
Amongst other things, the book recounts the massacre of the activists of Khudai Khidmatgar movement(a nonviolent movement against the British rule) by British troops in Peshawar (Pakistan)1930. Told through the eyes of a Najeeb Gul and his brother Qayyum Gul, an English woman, Viv and a young woman, Diwa whose bravery and kindness in the midst of the massacre made people assume she was an angel sent by Allah.
If you pick this up and like me, finds it tedious or uninteresting at first, I promise it will get better and really absorbing once you continue.
However, I have a problem with the character development of the 3 main characters, they weren't fully layered. I cared more about the characters introduced towards the end of the book than the 3 main characters.
Amongst other things, the book recounts the massacre of the activists of Khudai Khidmatgar movement(a nonviolent movement against the British rule) by British troops in Peshawar (Pakistan)1930. Told through the eyes of a Najeeb Gul and his brother Qayyum Gul, an English woman, Viv and a young woman, Diwa whose bravery and kindness in the midst of the massacre made people assume she was an angel sent by Allah.
If you pick this up and like me, finds it tedious or uninteresting at first, I promise it will get better and really absorbing once you continue.
However, I have a problem with the character development of the 3 main characters, they weren't fully layered. I cared more about the characters introduced towards the end of the book than the 3 main characters.
May 5, 2020
Peshawar - who’d have thought the ancient Pakistani city would end my Covid19 reading resistance of anything terrible. I’ve been on big doses of comfort authors. Picked up quite a few heavier novels and quickly put them down, no sign of my having the stomach or concentration required.
So I’m very pleased to say I was totally engaged by this book. It just shows first, we’ve moved out of a state dread re the virus, not far, but enough. Second, a really fantastic writer can draw any old reluctant readers in.
Terrible things happen in this book, including time on the Somme in WW1, dreadful historical events from 1930s British colonial Peshāwar in Pakistan. Main characters Vivian Rose, brothers Najeeb and Qayyum are cruelly oppressed by their cultures, based on gender or religion , class or politics.
Beautiful writing, fascinating plot, right to the very clever end.
So I’m very pleased to say I was totally engaged by this book. It just shows first, we’ve moved out of a state dread re the virus, not far, but enough. Second, a really fantastic writer can draw any old reluctant readers in.
Terrible things happen in this book, including time on the Somme in WW1, dreadful historical events from 1930s British colonial Peshāwar in Pakistan. Main characters Vivian Rose, brothers Najeeb and Qayyum are cruelly oppressed by their cultures, based on gender or religion , class or politics.
Beautiful writing, fascinating plot, right to the very clever end.
February 26, 2025
I don’t typically read historical novels. I found it was really interesting though. It provided an interesting look into the anti-colonial resistance to England going on in India. I definitely see how this was assigned for my gender and women’s studies class too. Dialogue and narrative was a bit hard to follow at times. Maybe it would be easier to understand if I had a greater personal historical understanding.
May 18, 2020
Qayyum Gul leaves home to join the Indian Army and suffers a life-changing injury at Ypres. Vivian Rose Spencer leaves home to care for injured soldiers. Their paths cross when Vivian sets off for Peshawar and Qayyum returns home. I suspect that I would have enjoyed this book more if I could have spent more time with it in larger chunks.
April 10, 2014
It isn’t very often that I pre-order a brand new hardback, however I was already a fan of Kamila Shamsie’s writing and so when I heard that A God in Every Stone was due out in April, I had to make sure I got my copy as soon as I could. Of course the danger with a much anticipated new novel is, that it is so anticipated that it can only disappoint. Thankfully I was certainly not disappointed in this novel – I enjoyed it enormously, however I don’t think it has quite the emotional power of Burnt Shadows (2009) – which I was totally mesmerised by.
Set in England, Turkey and Peshawar in 1914/15 and 1930 A God in Every Stone tells a compelling story of love, friendship, war and betrayal and our place in history, showing us how so much that seems lost to us can never be forgotten.
“If a man is to die defending a field, let the field be his field, the land his land, the people his people.”
Vivian Rose Spencer is a young Englishwoman, the daughter of a man who regretting his lack of sons, allows her to be educated beyond what is usual for her peers. In July 1914 Vivian is in an ancient region of Turkey with a party of archaeologists, which include her father’s good friend Tahsin Bey, his nephew and a group of Germans. As Vivian discovers the temple of Zeus, and hears the ancient stories of Caria (a region of Turkey) and Caspatyrus (thought to be in or near Peshawar), she starts to fall in love with Tashin Bey despite the large difference in their ages. Tashin Bey is on the trail of an ancient metal circlet – The Circlet of Scylax, a quest that will become Vivian’s too in the years to come. When war comes Vivian undertakes to nurse the wounded in a hospital in London, not yet old enough to go out to the front. However soon Viv will turn twenty-three and her father will expect her to join the nurses at the front, as content to sacrifice his daughter to the horrors of war – as he would have been to send his sons to the trenches had he had any. As Vivian waits for news from Tahsin Bey – an intelligence officer pays her a visit; Vivian is torn, wanting so much to make her father proud.
“You can’t betray a man to his friends, only to his enemies, the man from the war office said. What you say will do no harm, and it may do our boys at the front a great deal of good. I can’t put it more simply than that.”
Taumatised by her nursing experiences Vivian flees to Peshawar following the trail that Tashin Bey started her on. On a train she briefly meets twenty year old Pathan Qayyum Gul, returning after losing an eye at Ypres. Qayyum’s allegiances to the British army have been shattered by his experiences, he returns a bitter changed man. In Peshawar Vivian meets young Najeeb, who (unknown to Viv) is Qayyum’s twelve year old brother, Viv starts teaching Najeeb – awakening in him, the love Tashin Bey awoke in her younger self for history and archaeology. The connection between these three will only be fully revealed fifteen years later on the Street of Storytellers during a violent skirmish between soldiers of the British army and Peshawari citizens.
Viv is rather reserved character – I felt she deliberately stands at a distance from the reader; it was hard to feel a connection with her as a character. She is a modern forward looking young woman, educated as a man would have been, and yet disapproving of her friend Mary’s suffragette activities. Viv is fighting her own battle, a battle of grief and guilt, continuing a quest started by the man she loved. I loved the characters of Qayyum and Najeeb. In the days following Qayyum’s return from the war, there is a distance between the brothers, although their love for one another is apparent. Fifteen years later, when Qayyum has found a new war to fight, this time against the British he once fought alongside, the brothers are again more united, although their differences remain.
Shamsie’s Peshawar of 1915 and 1930 – is a place of tradition, a city of burqas, letter writers and storytellers, a place where men look through women rather than at them. The sense of place – as with all Kamila Shamsie’s previous novels is really strong. I have to admit the ending may slightly let this novel down, it felt a bit weak , falling slightly flat for me. However over all I really liked this novel- a definite four star read – and one I would recommend. If you have never read Burnt Shadows however – you must – it is an extraordinary wonderful novel, and for me remains her best novel to date.
August 6, 2014
This is a BIG and complex novel – moving from an archaeological dig in Turkey in early 1914, across the first year of the 1st World War, and through into Peshawar in both 1915 and again in 1930. It is also pretty challenging on one’s knowledge of ancient Persian mythology…(did you know that the Caspatyrus of mythology is modern day Peshawar? Or that Syclax betrayed Darius, the Emperor of Persia, and sided with the Carians against the Persians?). In Shamsie’s version of the story, Syclax has a valuable circlet given to him by Darius and the circlet then subsequently disappears. The search for its rediscovery is central to the storyline of A God in Every Stone.
The constant throughout the story is Vivien Spencer. Before the outbreak of the War, the young Viv went on an archaeological dig in Labraunda, Turkey. She was an ‘intern’ working with Turkish archaeologist, Tahsin Bey, a quite old (in both senses…) friend of her father’s. Bey’s ‘Holy Grail’ was to rediscover the circlet that Darius had given to Syclax. She fell in love with Bey (and he with her), but they were separated when war broke out. Viv worked for a short while in London as a nurse looking after the war wounded until she received a ‘coded’ Christmas card from Bey suggesting that she visit Peshawar where he hoped to join her. She (with difficulty) persuaded her parents to let her go and set off into the unknown.
The second theme of the story develops in parallel. Qayyum, a Pashtun soldier, is wounded fighting with the 40th Pathans at Ypres. He loses an eye, is invalided out of the army, and sent back to his native Peshawar. On the last part of his journey home he shares a railway compartment with Viv. Viv, when she arrives at the station in Peshawar, is befriended by a local boy called Najeeb. She teaches him English, the classics, and fosters his love of archaeology. Only much later does she discover that Najeeb in in fact Qayyum’s younger brother. His lessons with Viv are when he is meant to be at the Mosque being instructed in the Qur’an – a fact which his mother finds out and bans the lessons from continuing.
Viv deduces from archaeological evidence (and shares with Najeeb) that Darius’ circlet is possibly buried alongside a white stone Buddha at a site in Peshawar, and that this is the message that Bey was trying to communicate to her. But they cannot get permission to dig and she returns to England. Fast forward 15 years to 1930.
Najeeb is now working at the Archaeological Museum in Peshawar, and has got permission to dig at the site. He writes to Viv suggesting he join her and asking for funds to finance the adventure. She travels out – and finds a very different Peshawar. Ghaffar Khan, a leader of the non violent protest movement against British Rule in India is in the ascendancy, and his Khudai Khidmatgar has many followers. Tensions run high… and eventually burst over on 23rd April 1930 when the infamous (and actual) massacre in the Street of Storytellers takes place. A British army officer panics, orders his men to open fire, and carnage reigns. ‘Many’ (estimates range from the official number of 30 to up to 500) were killed. This single act changed the face of the Indian fight for independence.
Viv is caught up in the aftermath as she searches for Najeeb, and tries to piece together what happened to him, She re-encounters Qayyum (15 years on) who is on the same mission. Together they find the truth.
As I started by saying, A God In Every Stone is a BIG book. It brilliantly portrays the culture and way of life of Peshawar (none perhaps more so that in explaining the different reaction to Viv when she is ‘disguised’ in a burqua as she searches for Najeeb after the massacre). It also has a real sense of history and, in particular, the history of empire – or, rather, 3 empires. The decline of the all powerful Persian Empire of ancient times, the decline of the Ottoman Empire as the effects of the 1st World War impacted – and the beginning of the decline of the British Empire (Peshawar is, in fact, in modern day Pakistan after independence and the break up of British India…).
It is a book that I really enjoyed and would wholeheartedly recommend. I possibly wish, though, that I had first taken a refresher course in Persian mythology…!
The constant throughout the story is Vivien Spencer. Before the outbreak of the War, the young Viv went on an archaeological dig in Labraunda, Turkey. She was an ‘intern’ working with Turkish archaeologist, Tahsin Bey, a quite old (in both senses…) friend of her father’s. Bey’s ‘Holy Grail’ was to rediscover the circlet that Darius had given to Syclax. She fell in love with Bey (and he with her), but they were separated when war broke out. Viv worked for a short while in London as a nurse looking after the war wounded until she received a ‘coded’ Christmas card from Bey suggesting that she visit Peshawar where he hoped to join her. She (with difficulty) persuaded her parents to let her go and set off into the unknown.
The second theme of the story develops in parallel. Qayyum, a Pashtun soldier, is wounded fighting with the 40th Pathans at Ypres. He loses an eye, is invalided out of the army, and sent back to his native Peshawar. On the last part of his journey home he shares a railway compartment with Viv. Viv, when she arrives at the station in Peshawar, is befriended by a local boy called Najeeb. She teaches him English, the classics, and fosters his love of archaeology. Only much later does she discover that Najeeb in in fact Qayyum’s younger brother. His lessons with Viv are when he is meant to be at the Mosque being instructed in the Qur’an – a fact which his mother finds out and bans the lessons from continuing.
Viv deduces from archaeological evidence (and shares with Najeeb) that Darius’ circlet is possibly buried alongside a white stone Buddha at a site in Peshawar, and that this is the message that Bey was trying to communicate to her. But they cannot get permission to dig and she returns to England. Fast forward 15 years to 1930.
Najeeb is now working at the Archaeological Museum in Peshawar, and has got permission to dig at the site. He writes to Viv suggesting he join her and asking for funds to finance the adventure. She travels out – and finds a very different Peshawar. Ghaffar Khan, a leader of the non violent protest movement against British Rule in India is in the ascendancy, and his Khudai Khidmatgar has many followers. Tensions run high… and eventually burst over on 23rd April 1930 when the infamous (and actual) massacre in the Street of Storytellers takes place. A British army officer panics, orders his men to open fire, and carnage reigns. ‘Many’ (estimates range from the official number of 30 to up to 500) were killed. This single act changed the face of the Indian fight for independence.
Viv is caught up in the aftermath as she searches for Najeeb, and tries to piece together what happened to him, She re-encounters Qayyum (15 years on) who is on the same mission. Together they find the truth.
As I started by saying, A God In Every Stone is a BIG book. It brilliantly portrays the culture and way of life of Peshawar (none perhaps more so that in explaining the different reaction to Viv when she is ‘disguised’ in a burqua as she searches for Najeeb after the massacre). It also has a real sense of history and, in particular, the history of empire – or, rather, 3 empires. The decline of the all powerful Persian Empire of ancient times, the decline of the Ottoman Empire as the effects of the 1st World War impacted – and the beginning of the decline of the British Empire (Peshawar is, in fact, in modern day Pakistan after independence and the break up of British India…).
It is a book that I really enjoyed and would wholeheartedly recommend. I possibly wish, though, that I had first taken a refresher course in Persian mythology…!
May 8, 2015
I think this book probably warrants 3.5 stars rather than 4 as there was so much about it that was interesting yet I did not feel totally emotionally drawn to the characters so at the end I was ambivalent about the outcome which perhaps may say more about me than the efforts of the author. The story has at its beginning two threads as World war one begins. Qayyam Gul is an Indian soldier serving on the western front , he is injured and in the story we learn about the appallingly racist way that Indians were treated to the extent that in Brighton when recovering they are treated as prisoners and English nurses are no longer able to treat them in case they morally corrupt the women, Qayyam returns to Peshawar where he re-joins his muslim family and eventually is drawn into the independence movement, this thread is excellent with a fascinating snapshot of India at this time including the non violence strategy. The second thread involves Vivian Spencer a young English woman who is the son her father never had and goes to India to assist her father's Turkish friend on an archaeological dig to find the lost city where Darius had invaded from Persia. On return she commits an act which has long term repercussions for her and another character , she then nurses soldiers at the wars outbreak before her mother persuades her to return to India on an archaeological dig, she is haunted by finding a headband given to an ancient king. In Peshawar she meets Qayyam's younger brother Neejab who helps her with the dig despite his families opposition. We then leap in the latter part of the book to 1930 when Vivian returns to begin a new dig and the story revolves around the events of the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre when British troops massacre unarmed peaceful demonstrators. I've got to say even as I read this I am thinking what a brilliant book this should have been however I simply found that the characters lacked a depth which drew me in so that when they are in jeopardy I did not feel the emotional pull that turns a really good book into a classic and here I can only really compare it to one of my top five books 'A Fine Balance' where I was repeatedly moved ,shocked and engaged by all the events. Still I would recommend the book for anyone who enjoys stories set in India and for a snapshot of how the colonial soldiers were treated in the first world war and I will definitely read her again.
July 21, 2015
Another tour de force by Kamila Shamsie! Just as with Burnt Shadows,she personalises convulsive world events with characters who can barely hang on to their own narratives in the face of such enormity. Yet,these people work with what they've been dealt and try to maintain their dignity. Burnt Shadows took us from Nagasaki to Delhi to Pakistan to New York, 1945 to 2001. A God in Every Stone is framed by the Persian Emperor Darius and his vassal Scylax, but takes place in Turkey, England, and India, 1914-1930, 1947. The themes of empires, in ascendance and decline, identity (personal and national), and love and loss, shape the novel and the stories of the characters.
August 21, 2019
Never knew about the Qissakhwani massacre - the killing of over 100 unarmed Indians by the British on 23 April 1930. The book leads up to it and glosses over how the British tried to cover it up.
Although one or two facts seemed to be off, it was still an interesting read. Viewing Peshawar from the eye of an archaeologist gave me new perspective on what the city has endured for over two millennia.
Although one or two facts seemed to be off, it was still an interesting read. Viewing Peshawar from the eye of an archaeologist gave me new perspective on what the city has endured for over two millennia.
December 1, 2018
I had great difficulty in remembering this book, to write a review - and that seems to sum up how unmemorable it was for me, although I read it recently. I was not won over by the heroine. Ambitious but sloppy both in the history and in the writing.
November 5, 2014
Buddy read with Kim :).
April 10, 2021
Legend has it that the Greek/Armenian Scylax explored the course of the Indus River for the Persian king, Darius, who presented him with a silver headband designed with fig leaves and fruit. The search for this circlet (which may or may not exist) becomes the impetus for archeological discoveries in Turkey and the sub-continent in this historical novel.
Shamsie weaves strands of violence and non-violence, war and peace through settings in Belgium and London (World War 1) and Peshawar (now Pakistan) where a massacre of local people by the British took place in the 1930s. Shamsie creates the characters of Englishwoman Vivian Spencer (who becomes an archeologist) and Qayyum Gul (a Pashtun who fights for Britain and later joins the independence movement associated with Mahatma Gandhi). Vivian forms a connection to Qayyum’s young brother, who immerses himself in the history of Peshawar and its Greek, Buddhist and Hindu past. There is a ‘god in every stone’. The author develops her ideas through the characters’ thoughts and actions as she moves backwards and forwards in time and place.
This novel interested me on many levels: archeology, relationship between races, Indian history and of course the issues of war and peace that Shamsie raises. It’s very ambitious to deal with so many aspects of history and at times the novel seems to falter under the weight of it all. It isn’t as accomplished a novel as her later ‘Home Fire’. Nevertheless, Kamsie kept me involved in her multiple stories and perspectives and interested to see what would become of her characters.
Three and a half stars rounded up.
Shamsie weaves strands of violence and non-violence, war and peace through settings in Belgium and London (World War 1) and Peshawar (now Pakistan) where a massacre of local people by the British took place in the 1930s. Shamsie creates the characters of Englishwoman Vivian Spencer (who becomes an archeologist) and Qayyum Gul (a Pashtun who fights for Britain and later joins the independence movement associated with Mahatma Gandhi). Vivian forms a connection to Qayyum’s young brother, who immerses himself in the history of Peshawar and its Greek, Buddhist and Hindu past. There is a ‘god in every stone’. The author develops her ideas through the characters’ thoughts and actions as she moves backwards and forwards in time and place.
This novel interested me on many levels: archeology, relationship between races, Indian history and of course the issues of war and peace that Shamsie raises. It’s very ambitious to deal with so many aspects of history and at times the novel seems to falter under the weight of it all. It isn’t as accomplished a novel as her later ‘Home Fire’. Nevertheless, Kamsie kept me involved in her multiple stories and perspectives and interested to see what would become of her characters.
Three and a half stars rounded up.
October 10, 2021
4.5 stars. I’d give this 5 stars but I gave Home Fire 5 and it is close but not quite as good. Shamsie writes in a way that I find completely transporting. The heat, dust and beauty of a city… and then she nails the overwhelming grief of loss and sacrifice (a topic she perfects in Home Fire). She explores colonialism and racism befitting the time period of the setting and questions who writes the history and what they choose to omit.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 397 reviews