This is Where the Serpent Lives
This is Where the Serpent Lives
Intimate and epic, elegiac and profoundly moving: a tour de force destined to become a classic of contemporary literature.
Moving from Pakistan's sophisticated cities to its most rural farmlands, This Is Where the Serpent Lives captures the extraordinary proximity of extreme wealth to extreme poverty in a land where fate is determined by class and social station.
Daniyal Mueenuddin's This Is Where the Serpent Lives paints a powerful portrait of contemporary feudal Pakistan and a farm on which the destinies of a dozen unforgettable characters are linked through violence and love, resilience, and tragedy. Yazid rises from abject poverty to the role of trusted servant to an affluent gangster; Saqib, an errand boy, is eventually trusted to lead his boss's new farming venture, where he becomes determined to rise above his rank by any means necessary. Saqib's boss, the wealthy landowner Hisham, reminisces about meeting his wife while she was dating his brother while Gazala, a young teacher, falls for Saqib and his bold promises for their future before learning about his plans to skim money from the farm's profits.
In matters of both business and the heart, Mueenuddin's characters struggle to choose between the paths that are moral and the paths that will allow them to survive the systems of caste, capital, and social power that so tightly grip their country.
'Set to be a standout novel of 2026 ... Brutal, funny and brilliantly told' Patrick Gale, Guardian
'All the makings of a classic' Vogue
'A book you'll be hearing about again' New York Times
'An excoriating epic of class and power' Observer
Published: 13 Jan 2026
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9781037200786
Size: 14.6 x 3.4 x 23.6 cm
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