A Golden Age Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of A Golden Age.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

Introduction

Rehana Haque, a young widow transplanted to the city of Dhaka in East Pakistan, is fiercely devoted to her adolescent children, Maya and Sohail. Both become fervent nationalists in the violent political turmoil which, in 1971, transforms a brutal Pakistani civil war into a fight to the death for Bangladeshi independence. Fair-minded and intensely protective of her family, but not at all political, Rehana is sucked into the conflict in spite of herself. A story of passion and revolution, of family, friendship and unexpected heroism, A Golden Age depicts the chaos of an era and the choices everyone—from student protesters to the country's leaders, from rickshaw wallahs to the army's soldiers—must make. Rehana herself will face a cruel dilemma; the choice she makes is at once heartbreaking and true to the character we have come to love and respect.

Questions for Discussion

1. A Golden Age opens with the lines: 'Dear Husband, I lost our children today'. How important is Rehana's relationship with her dead husband and how does this relationship change throughout the novel?
2. Maya is shocked when Rehana uses her treasured saris to sew blankets for the troops. How significant is Maya's own choice of clothing and why do you think she dresses the way she does?
3. Tahmima Anam was not alive during the Bangaldesh War of Independence. Instead, she relied on the memories of others to help her to write this fictionalised account of the period. What role does fiction play in helping us to understand the historical and political events that have shaped our world?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Harper Perennial. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.