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  • Playing Games

  • By: Huma Qureshi
  • Narrated by: Shaheen Khan
  • Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (11 ratings)

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Playing Games cover art

Playing Games

By: Huma Qureshi
Narrated by: Shaheen Khan
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Summary

Huma Qureshi's gorgeous first novel: a tender and intimate story of two sisters caught up in the joys and pains of art and family

The remarkable debut novel from critically acclaimed writer Huma Qureshi: a poignant story of art and sisterhood, family, marriage and betrayal

Hana has a perfect job, a perfect home, a perfect marriage. It is her younger sister Mira who is a mess. But Hana wants children and her husband is hesitating, and perhaps her control is slipping.

Mira dreams of a creative life but she's stuck working at a local café. She hates her flatmate and Hana's dismissal of her writing but she can't find the right inspiration.

One night, a fight between Hana and her husband sparks something in Mira: the words ring in her head and she starts typing. But what can you borrow from your sister? And what can be forgiven?

©2023 Huma Qureshi (P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

'A warm and moving portrait of two women's desires, equally overwhelming, to create art and to become a parent. Playing Games thoughtfully and elegantly considers what it means to be a sister, a mother and a writer, as well as the fine line between truth and fiction and what happens when one brushes up against the other.' (Chloë Ashby, author of Wet Paint)

'A riveting and evocative tale of two sisters navigating love, loss and desires.' (Zeba Talkhani, author of My Past is a Foreign Country)

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What listeners say about Playing Games

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  • Overall
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Always sad when I finish reading her books, can't get enough of her stories and writing

Loved every minute of this. The reading was also very good! So happy to have discovered her

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The reader was appalling

The stilted robotic reading of this book definitely impacted my enjoyment of the story. Grammar and punctuation seemed often, to be ignored and my husband even commented that the voice didn’t even sound human.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable Narrative storytelling

An easy listen. Plot was enjoyable if a little pedestrian. Narration quality varied, not the narrators fault, but you could hear when insertions were made, the background tone changed which detracted slightly on occasion. I bought the book because of a recommendation in The Guardian.

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