The year is 1998, the summer of Pakistan's nuclear tests, and Daru has just managed to lose his job in Lehore. As the economy crumbles around him, his electricity is cut off, and the jet set parties behind high walls, Daru takes the bright steps of falling for his best friend's wife and giving heroin a try. This is the story of his decline. Powerful, funny, and tragic, the narrative combines love story, trial, and political allegory, providing a modern riff on the poetic Sufi image of a moth's love for a candle flame and spinning a tale around the fall of the Mughal Empire along its way. Moth Smoke casts fresh light on contemporary Pakistan and marks the debut of an original and arresting new voice.

Author Biography

Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, Pakistan, where he failed to achieve much renown during rather brief stints as a car salesman, journalist, and lawyer. He studied at Princeton under Toni Morrison and Harvard Law, and currently lives in New York City. This is his first novel.