Nargis

Nargis is an architect in her fifties. She lives in Zamana and is married to Massud, a fellow architect. Toward the beginning of the novel, Massud is accidentally killed by a stray bullet fired by an American man. The Pakistani military says that Nargis must publicly forgive the killer so that Pakistan can return the man to the United States, implicitly so that the American government will pay give the Pakistani government money in exchange. Nargis refuses to forgive the man, and she goes into hiding with Helen and Imran.

Nargis’s real name is Margaret, and she was actually born a Christian. As a teenager, she adopted the name Nargis and pretended to be Muslim in order to escape the harsh oppression faced by Christians in Pakistan. Nargis then forged documents for her new identity. She eventually met and married Massud, and she wanted to eventually tell...