Jane Austen's Emma, transported to the outlandish social whirl of 21st-century Lahore. Our plucky heroine's cousin, Jonkers, has been dumped by his low-class, slutty secretary wife, and our heroine has been charged with finding him a suitable replacement -- a rich, fair, beautiful, old-family type. Quickly. But, between you, me and the four walls, who wants to marry poor, plain Jonkers? As our heroine social-climbs her way through weddings, GTs (get-togethers, of course) and ladies' lunches trying to find a suitable girl, she discovers to her dismay that her cousin has his own ideas about his perfect mate. And secretly, she may even agree.

Duty Free

Mohsin, Moni

Literature & Fiction

Vintage Books

     Meet Butterfly -- loveable socialite, avid party-goer, inspired shopper and unwittingly acute observer.      Of course everyone thinks her life is perfect but having to contend with a conniving mother-in-law, a husband who doesn't like parties, and a circle of friends who bring new meaning to the word competitive, Butterfly thinks her life is far from enviable. And as she lurches from crisis to crisis, trailing Jimmy Choos and pearls of wisdom along the way, it seems she might have a little more on her plate than she's first realised.     Wicked, irreverent and hugely entertaining, The Diary of a Social Butterfly gives you a delicious glimpse into the parallel universe of the have-musts.

The Diary of a Social Butterfly

The return of the butterfly can be considered to be a long monologue by a woman who likes to think of herself as a 'butterfly' because of her carefree nature. She is beautiful, vibrant and almost everyone would like to catch her but her spirit is always soaring higher. She traverses the boundaries of personal and social as she talks about everything unabashedly, including herself, her family and her country. Everything becomes one in a strange way and appears like it is part of her personal ramblings about life. In the line of many traditional european literary works, the writer has used the character of the 'butterfly' to comment, sometimes not so subtly, on the life of women within the barriers of what is called 'home' in her homeland. This much-loved book from the writer, moni mohsin, was released as a paperback version by penguin books limited in 2014. Key features: the return of the butterfly, as the title suggests, is a sequel to mohsin's earlier novel the diary of a social butterfly. This novel spans five years of the protagonist's life in lahore with a political and social backdrop of her country. Mohsin has presented a sharp satire on society in this book. She has commented on important incidents such as benazir bhutto's return, pervez musharraf, imran khan's stint in the pakistani politics, malala yousafzai being shot in the head by the taliban and so on. Mohsin's work contains a distinct flavour of the region it is coming from: lahore, pakistan. Thousands of urdu words have been inserted in the text and the spellings of many words have been altered to present a beautiful touch of the pakistani accent.

The Return of the Butterfly [Paperback] [Jul 23, 2014] Moni Mohsin

Penguin India

Jane Austen's Emma, transported to the outrageous social melee of 21st-century Lahore. Our plucky heroine's cousin, Jonkers, has been dumped by his low-class, slutty secretary, and our heroine has been charged with finding him a suitable wife -- a rich, fair, beautiful, old-family type. Quickly. But, between you, me and the four walls, who wants to marry poor, plain, hapless Jonkers? As our heroine social-climbs her way through weddings-sheddings, GTs (get togethers, of course) and ladies' lunches trying to find a suitable girl from the right bagground, she discovers to her dismay that her cousin has his own ideas about his perfect mate. And secretly, she may even agree. Full of wit and wickedness and as clever as its heroine is clueless, Duty Free is a delightful romp through Pakistani high society -- though, even as it makes you cry with laughter, it makes you wince at the gulf between our heroine's glitteringly shallow life and the country that is falling apart, day by day, around her Louboutin-clad feet. Moni Mohsin, already a huge bestseller in India, has been hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen, and compared to Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding. Duty Free is social satire at its biting best.

Duty Free: A Novel

Dramas & Plays

Crown

Jane Austen's Emma, transported to the outrageous social melee of 21st-century Lahore.Our plucky heroine's cousin, Jonkers, has been dumped by his low-class, slutty secretary, and our heroine has been charged with finding him a suitable wife -- a rich, fair, beautiful, old-family type. Quickly. But, between you, me and the four walls, who wants to marry poor, plain, hapless Jonkers?As our heroine social-climbs her way through weddings-sheddings, GTs (get togethers, of course) and ladies' lunches trying to find a suitable girl from the right bagground, she discovers to her dismay that her cousin has his own ideas about his perfect mate. And secretly, she may even agree.Full of wit and wickedness and as clever as its heroine is clueless, Tender Hooks is a delightful romp through Pakistani high society -- though, even as it makes you cry with laughter, it makes you wince at the gulf between our heroine's glitteringly shallow life and the country that is falling apart, day by day, around her Louboutin-clad feet. Moni Mohsin, already a huge bestseller in India, has been hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen, and compared to Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding. Tender Hooks is social satire at its biting best.

Tender Hooks

Women's Fiction

Chatto&Windus