Hamid Baig’s debut novel, liked by the readers as romance, Little Maryam has become a bestseller and it certainly demands our scrutiny. We picked a reader and he, Manish, has read the book and sent us this clear review of the book which makes it easy for the readers to understand what content they might expect inside the book once they begin reading it. So, here is the review of Hamid Baig’s novel Little Maryam by Manish. You will certainly like it.

I won’t be narrating the story in short because I would rather like the readers to have the fun and pleasure they deserve. However, the novel is mainly about the love story of Saadiq and Maryam which moves amidst ups and downs; fortune and adversity; certainty and uncertainty and ultimately reaches where one has to make a sacrifice which no readers can even imagine. So, the story is emotional and told very well.

Out of the books, I have read recently, the plot in Little Maryam is subtle and better than some of those books, undoubtedly. Hamid has employed the techniques of past-tense narration and then pushes the story to the present. Once again, as the novel progresses towards the end, the readers are kept in an exciting speculative mood when they have to wait for the letters by Saadiq to be read by Miller, a reporter-turned-author, who meets him at the beginning of the novel. And throughout, the readers are kept engaged with the novel and this is, to be said up front, the crafty nature of the plot. Here, I have to give the credit to the author because this is his very debut book.

Little Maryam, on another important front, does very good. It has tried to explore the theme of love in a totally different manner and it has set an example. Maryam and Saadiq are young, passionate and attracted towards each other too much. However, while it could be created easily, the author has refrained from using any explicit ‘textual scenes’ which you often find in the contemporary novels. So, Little Maryam can safely be said a ‘family novel’. Nevertheless, about this, I would also like to draw the attention of the readers to a slightly committed mistake by the author. He has tried to portray the character of Saadiq as a person of high morals as he denies to indulge sexually with Maryam on a rainy evening. However, once they are apart and he is famous and capable, he hires the best escort services (but still loves Maryam). So, that’s a little contradiction that the narrative creates. It does not matter to the story though; it just reflects upon the inconsistency of the author to a very little extent.

The theme is of love and love only. A love which is between a lower-middle-class boy and a rich colonel’s daughter. Naturally, Maryam’s father is not so supportive of this love as any father would be.

Language has no special charms neither any unnecessary intellectual about it. A reader can enjoy the book!

The best part of the book is its plot construction and witty narrative. It can hold the readers as long as it takes to finish reading the novel. On the lacking side, there is nothing which will hamper the reading interest. However, to point it out, a reader might sometime be over-impressed by the character of Saadiq who goes on winning the Nobel Prize for medical science.

The Result:
I liked the book because it interested me. I was bound to read it – not because I had to read but because I liked reading it. It is interesting as well as compelling, no doubt. You can enjoy this book and it won’t take much because the novel is not so lengthy!

Get your copy by following the Amazon link below:

Hamid Baig’s Little Maryam on Amazon India

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review by Manish