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No one was happy when the New Government assigned Khaled to the spare bedroom at the house where Claire lived. Khaled, a recent migrant arrival, wanted to lodge in London rather than a town on the English south coast. Claire, an unemployed hotel worker, and her grandmother had requested a nice, female migrant. But the country was running out of hotel rooms, so there wasn't much choice who went where.
Claire and Khaled couldn't have foreseen the adventures they would subsequently experience from spying, smuggling and illicit protesting through to witnessing the collapse of the Houses of Parliament. Nonetheless, friendships developed not only between Claire and Khaled but also with another migrant, Claire's family and their neighbour.
'Claire for Khaled' is set in the near future where the people of Britain muddle through despite a deluge of New Government initiatives and programmes designed to control where people go, how they spend their money, what children learn at school and what people see on television or on the Internet - enforced by heavy-handed officials and supported by a biased mainstream media. As a result, of course, there's also a burgeoning grey market, an extensive money laundering network as well as a nascent Resistance movement (or two).
This debut novel by Khaled P. Mohajir contains moments of humour, moments of sadness, moments of shock and moments of calm. Will the friendship between Claire and Khaled survive as the country around them falls apart? You will have to read the book to find out.
Here's an excerpt:
The bells of Big Ben rang out.
"That's odd," Khaled muttered as he glanced at his watch. "It's not a quarter hour."
The crowd of onlookers screamed as they watched Elizabeth Tower, with Big Ben and its four famous clock faces at the top, start leaning towards the rest of the Houses of Parliament.
"It's Big Ben." Khaled gasped. "It's falling down."
The bells in the tower started ringing chaotically, like a mis-matching set of saucepans dropping randomly on to a stone floor, as the tower leant further over and sections of its stepped, pointed roof started to slide away. Finally reaching the point of no return, the tower crashed through the neighbouring parliamentary buildings. People dropped to their knees as the ground shook, many of the buildings' windows flung themselves open, glass in the other windows shattered and a cloud of dust enveloped everyone and everything.
Khaled came to England on a makeshift boat across the English Channel. Claire lost her job when the hotel she worked in was requisitioned and converted into migrant accommodation.
Now, Khaled is looking for a way to get to London while Claire searches for a job, work, anything to raise money to pay for her sibling's medicine. Their paths cross and they go on a series of adventures that culminates in an explosive guided tour of the House of Commons.
Can Khaled overcome his cultural inhibitions and express his feelings? Can Claire look past her emotional baggage to see what's right in front of her? Can friendship cross borders as a country falls apart? Find out in this satirical and eventful novel.
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