bali rai
(un)arranged marriage
HARRY AND RANJIT were waiting for me – waiting to take me to Derby, to a wedding. My wedding. A wedding that I hadn’t asked for, that I didn’t want. To a girl who I didn’t know . . .
If they had bothered to open their eyes, they would have seen me: seventeen, angry, upset but determined – determined to do my own thing, to choose my own path in life . . .
Set partly in the UK and partly in the Punjab region of India, this is a fresh, bitingly perceptive and totally up-to-the-minute look at one young man’s fight to free himself from family expectations and to be himself, free to dance to his own tune.
WINNER OF THREE CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS
0552 547344
Critical acclaim for (un)arranged marriage:
‘Absorbing and engaging . . . unusual because it is
written from a male point of view . . . a highly readable
debut from Bali Rai that teenagers of any culture
will identify with’ Observer
‘A story that confronts controversial issues head-on
and yet manages to be a very entertaining novel’
The Bookseller
‘Energetically and pacily written . . . There is a vitality
and freshness about Rai’s writing that engages
the reader . . . An intriguing debut that promises
well for the future’ Books for Keeps
‘Readers of this excellent book from a promising
new writer will not be disappointed’ Kids Out
‘Rai has an unselfconscious style, and a dry sense of
the ridiculous . . . an appealing subversive edge’ TES
‘Any teenager under pressure from his or her parents
to conform will enjoy this novel’ Guardian
AN RHCB DIGITAL EBOOK 9781446498941
Published in Great Britain by RHCB Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
A Random House Group Company
This ebook edition published 2011
Copyright © Bali Rai, 2003
First published in Great Britain
Corgi 2003
The right of Bali Rai to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.