Kauthar

Meike Ziervogel brings courage and delicacy, as well as deep cultural and psychological insight, to a terrifying theme. The imagination in impressive service, this is both a necessary and an astonishing novel. -- Moniza Alvi Meike Ziervogel really gets under the skin of her female protagonist. She has created a searing portrait of one woman's psychic collapse and descent into religious extremism. A highly readable and timely narrative. -- Lucy Popescu In a story that is grounded in recent current events, yet profoundly metaphysical and philosophical in the questions it poses about love, faith and aggression, Meike Ziervogel once again raises the bar of contemporary literary fiction. -- Morag Charlwood

Lydia’s London life lacks purpose. Her discovery of mystical Islam, with its Arabic language and Shia rituals, offers her a new beginning. Lydia becomes Kauthar. When she falls in love with Rafiq, an Iraqi-born doctor, her life appears complete. Then Rafiq decides to return to war-torn Baghdad. For Kauthar love of God replaces love of her husband.

Lydia, a woman in her early thirties, lives in London. She lacks a purpose and loses herself in a string of affairs. When she meets Rabia, a convert to Islam, the Moslem rituals and the Arabic language offer her a new beginning. Lydia becomes Kauthar. She falls in love with Rafiq, an Iraqi-born doctor, and her life seems complete. But the terrorist attacks of 9/11 tests their relationship. While Kauthar becomes increasingly fundamental in her beliefs, Rafiq returns to war-torn Baghdad to work in a hospital. Kauthar follows her husband – and the consequences are terrifying.

Kauthar charts the life of a white British woman who converts to Islam. The story explores the reasons why and analyses the psychological factors that lead her to distort and misuse her religious faith. Ultimately, Kauthar is a novel about how longing for love can result in violent delusion.