A Golden Age

Acknowledgements

I am privileged to be indebted to the following people:

Anya Serota, for her commitment to the book before it was even written and for sheer editorial brilliance. My agent, Peter Straus, who knows more about books than just about anyone, for his wisdom and much-needed counsel. Ellie Birne, Nikki Barrow, James Spackman, Roland Philipps, Sara Marafini and all my friends at John Murray; Lisa Baker, Rowan Routh, Stephen Edwards and the team at RCW. Donna Poppy, magical transformer of the muddy sentence. Myrlin Hermes and Joe Treasure, my genius critics; Andrew Motion for lessons and guidance; David Cross and the Arts Council for their generous support; Liza Glen and Jane Filip for hours around the table. Roland Lamb, for inspiring me to write Rehana better. Michael Veal, Dan Mirsky, Siddhartha Deb and Michele Ashley, for early enthusiasm and confidence; Shaveena Anam, my co-conspirator. Kaiser Haq, for his timely translation of Shamsur Rahman’s ‘Shadhinota Tumi’. All my freedom-fighter friends, Habibul Alam, Shahidullah Khan, Naila Zaman, Shireen Huq, Akhtar Ahmed, Shireen Banu, Mofidul Huq, Sultana Zaman, Colonel Nuruzzaman and Aly Zaker; Shahadat Chowdhury, whom we keep alive in our hearts. My mother and father, who told me so many stories about the war that I couldn’t help but become a writer.

I will always be especially grateful to Nehal Ahmed, without whose patience and unstinting support this book would have never been written or finished. Thanks also to Najma and Jalaluddin Ahmed, for their unflagging optimism.

Finally, it needs to be said that this book is what it is only because of the place that inspired it. And so, to my beautiful and bruised country, to Bangladesh — my gratitude and love.