An Infidel in Paradise

Gr 9 Up—Sixteen-year-old Emma, daughter of a Canadian diplomat, has moved from country to country all her life, but after her parents' rancorous divorce, she is forced to move from the Philippines to a diplomatic compound in Islamabad, where her mother has been posted. Emma resents the numerous restrictions, the loss of her friends, and the dullness of life in Pakistan, and is angry about her father's desertion and her mother's constant work-related absences. She alienates other students on the first day at her new school when she gives an honest answer to the question, "How are you enjoying Pakistan?" but she eventually makes some tentative friendships and tries to address some of the poverty-related issues around her. However, political tensions and her own ill-advised attraction to a handsome Pakistani classmate lead to trouble, and on one horrifying night, Emma is trapped outside the diplomatic enclave in the middle of a riot. She is attacked and nearly raped before being rescued by Pakistani soldiers. However, the novel ends on a hopeful note with Emma reaching out to her family and new friends. This is an honest and realistic story about being an outsider in another country (much of it is based on the author's own experiences). Emma could have easily come off as whiny and unsympathetic, but the author shows that she has legitimate reasons for her grief and pain. Laidlaw does not hold back from depicting some of the less-attractive aspects of Pakistani life, but she also conveys a sense of the beauty and wonder of this culture.—Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ