What is the moment, that exact moment, when everything in a friendship changes? Soul mates from birth, Karim and Raheen finish one another's sentences, speak in anagrams and lie spine to spine. They are irrevocably bound to one another and to Karachi, Pakistan. It beats in their hearts - violent, polluted, corrupt, vibrant, brave and ultimately, home. As the years go by they let a barrier of silence build between them until they are brought together during a dry summer of strikes and ethnic violence and their relationship stands poised between strained friendship and fated love. Impassioned and touching, Kartography is a love song to Karachi. In her extraordinary new novel, Kamila Shamsie shows us that, whatever happens in the world, we must never forget the complicated war in our hearts.

Originally published: 2002.