Leila Aboulela

Their fortune threatened by shifting powers in Sudan and their heir's debilitating accident, a powerful family under the leadership of Mahmoud Bey is torn between the traditional and modern values of Mahmoud's two wives and his son's efforts to break with cultural limits.

Coloured Lights is the first collection of short stories from the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing 2000, and it includes the winning story The Museum.

Moving from present-day Scotland to the court of the Tsar, The Kindness of Enemies is an epic of love and betrayal, reconciliation and war. Natasha is researching the life of Imam Shamil, a nineteenth-century warrior who battled to defend the Caucasus against Russian invasion. She uncovers a story of bravery and loss, and of captives traded between wild mountain hideouts and the refined court of the Tsar. The tale of Shamil and his lost son comes shockingly to life when Natasha realises that her star student, Oz, is descended from the warrior. Quickly, she becomes drawn to him, and to the alluring world of his family. But Natasha soon discovers she is not the only one with an interest in Oz, and in what he might be hiding. As suspicion around him intensifies, Natasha realises everything she values stands in jeopardy.

On a visit to her childhood home a woman recalls the experiences she and her brother had while living there during World War II and especially the reasons they decided to run away.