Another Gulmohar Tree

Usman, a writer, is visiting post-war London from Pakistan, when he meets a young aspiring artist called Lydia. The common bond of their failed marriages draws these lonely strangers together, but just as their friendship begins to blossom into something deeper Usman has to return to Karachi, leaving Lydia behind.

Two years later, Lydia impulsively abandons her life in London and boards a ship to Karachi, where the two are married. But as the years pass by Usman feels a distance growing between them, one which becomes increasingly difficult to bridge. 

Weaving together timeless fables and a modern tale, in turns wry and unashamedly romantic, Another Gulmohar Tree is a heart-warming account of a marriage marked by enduring love.

‘‘ ‘Taut yet lush . . . like the flame-bright flowers of the gulmohar tree itself. At its heart it is a story of love, into which Hussein weaves all his remarkable skills of storytelling’’
Kamila Shamsie

‘‘From the first paragraph Another Gulmohar Tree plunges us into a world that is irrefutably real. It’s this perfectly judged and rendered sense of reality—which pervades these characters’ lives, as well as the cities they inhabit—that immediately absorbs and disarms the reader. We are lucky to have Hussein among us, telling us stories as few can, with his particular mixture of deep love, understanding, and sadness’’
Amit Chaudhuri