Playing Games is Huma Qureshi’s fourth book and first novel. Born in the UK into a family of Pakistani heritage, her previous works include a memoir, How We Met, and a collection of short stories, Things We Do Not Tell People We Love, which featured women of Pakistani origin unable to communicate honestly with the people closest to them. Her memoir told the story of how, after trying Muslim-specific dating websites with no luck, she met and married her husband, a white Englishman who converted to Islam to be with her. Playing Games seems, on the face of it, a change of direction, barely touching on religion or cultural concerns. It focuses on two sisters in their early thirties living in north London: Hana, a married lawyer, and her younger sister Mira, who works in a coffee shop and lives in a crappy house share while trying to write her first play. Their mother, an art teacher, died 11 years ago, something both sisters are still wrestling with. Hana has fled from any kind of artistic endeavour and runs her life with obsessive control, while Mira is happy to pursue a larger dream.
