Little Maryam by Hamid Baig | A Book Review

Little Maryam by Hamid Baig # BookReview

Little Maryam by Hamid Baig is a beautiful, poignant, and heart-wrenching love story that takes you on a journey of emotions – happiness, heartbreak, love, separation, betrayal, sorrow, heartache and so much more. As you turn the pages of the book, you will surely be in for a roller coaster ride – with many highs and as many lows. When I finished reading it, I kept down the book with a heavy heart and I literally cried. It is not some cheesy romantic love story, but a story of love, loss, redemption and sacrifice.

Set in Dehradun for a good part, at the heart of the story are two central characters, Maryam and Saadiq. Maryam is the daughter of a Colonel and Saadiq is the son of the Colonel’s gardener. Love blooms between these two since the first day they met as kids and as years pass by their feeling for each other just gets stronger. Under the crudest circumstances, the lovers are separated and their love remains unrequited. However, this is not how the author introduces us to Saadiq or Maryam in the story.

Dr Saadiq, a renowned gene therapist and a Nobel award nominee, is rushing through the airport to catch his flight when Anne Miller – a journalist with a nose for headlines spots him. It so happens that both of them are heading for New Delhi and soon Anne Miller finds herself seated next to Dr Saadiq. Under the most unusually interesting circumstances, Anne learns about Maryam from Saadiq and their unrequited love story. Maryam is critically ill and that is why Saadiq is off to India to see her, maybe one last time.

I will not dwell much on the story as it will spoil the fun of reading the book for others. But, I must tell you that I found the story in the book very nicely crafted. It has the reader’s attention and will keep them glued to the book until the last page. The plot reveals itself in stages and boasts of many twists and turns which makes the reading an interesting experience. As the lives of Maryam and Saadiq unravelled in the book, I felt like I was watching their story in a motion picture. The novel can very well be made into a movie.

The narration throughout the book is fluent and crisp; it never wanders or stretches unnecessarily. The best thing about it is that the author has succeeded in keeping some elements of surprise until the last few chapters. Since it is the author's debut book, I can say he has done a commendable job. As you read the book, the story seeps into your mind and it will be there even after you have finished reading it. The characters are well sketched – most of the time the focus is on Saadiq or Maryam, however, characters like Haji (Saadiq’s father), Colonel, Anne, etc., have their own space in the story. I must admit that I couldn’t bring myself to like the character of Saadiq in the first half of the novel. Thanks to his not-so-pleasant past and the success he had seen in his life, he was often rude and demeaning to others. It is in the other half of the story; I came to appreciate him for all he was.

The only negative I have to say about the book is that I could spot some typos and grammatical errors (even though I am not very good at spotting them). They could have been certainly avoided during editing.

Overall I am very happy to have read the book and I recommend it wholeheartedly to those who love reading tragic and emotional love stories.

Quotable quote from the book:

"Not every man with a heart is understanding, not every man with ears is a listener."

Little Maryam by Hamid Baig
Publisher: Notion Press, Inc.
Language: English

Publication Year: 2018
Genre: Fiction, Romance
No. of Pages: 296
Price: Rs 225
My Rating: 4/5

You can buy the book on Amazon

I received a review copy of the book from the author in lieu of an honest review.