Reading: Love Comes Later With Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

Love Comes Later is one of the first English language novels to be set in Qatar, and has become one of a long list of books to be banned in that country. Doha-based author Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar researched and wrote the novel in Qatar, but will not get to see it reach shelves there despite the fact that the book is hardly overtly political or controversial. Rather, the plot centers on an arranged engagement between two reluctant cousins, and the love triangle that develops when one of the betrothed falls for someone else. The novel interrogates the connections between South Asian and Arab cultures and the oppressive potential of cultural expectations. “Rajakumar pulls back the veil on life in Qatar to reveal a glimpse of Muslim life rarely seen by Westerners,” as per Kirkus Reviews. Join Rajakumar for a reading from the novel.