Seething with tension in monsoon heat and humidity, Red on Green is a
captivating story of love across cultural barriers, corruption, abuse of
humanitarian aid and sexual exploitation.
British aid worker, Ben Altringham, meets medical student, Ayesha,
through her father, Dr Abdur Rahman. He is a kind and highly skilled
doctor who volunteers to help people struggling to survive in desperate
poverty and squalor.
Ayesha and Ben's relationship is a dangerous liaison in the turbulent
aftermath of a savage civil conflict on the Indian subcontinent. The war
had ended. But recrimination and revenge were rife.
Fuelling the danger, Ayesha's closest friend, Khalida, asks for help to
escape the clutches of a government minister's son. She was being
coerced into a suffocating marriage. Driven by his love for Ayesha, Ben
risks his liberty and life in a plot to help Khalida flee the country.
The novel is set in Bangladesh, a year after the nine-month civil war in
1971. Unfortunately, the nine-month 'War of Liberation' did not free the
population from poverty, disease and natural disasters, nor endemic
corruption, nepotism and discrimination. Former 'freedom fighters' took
revenge against those accused of being traitors and collaborators during
the conflict. Blood continued to flow into the new nation's lush
landscape - hence the title, Red on Green.
