Random House Australia; Transworld Publishers/Doubleday, UK; Simon & Schuster/Scribner, USA

Nazneen, a teenage bride from Bangladesh, is married off to Chanu, a chubby, middle-aged underachiever living in an oppressive immigrant borough of London. While Nazneen is unhappy in England and finds Chanu difficult to love, she constantly contrasts her own life with the far worse fate of her sister, who married for love, but is abused by her husband and later forced into prostitution to survive. Nazneen’s transformation from fatalistic victim to a strong-minded woman in charge of her own destiny lies at the heart of this finely wrought debut novel.

Author Monica Ali, who was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and grew up in England, was named one of the 20 best young British writers by Granta. Brick Lane was also a finalist for the UK's prestigious Man Booker Prize.