The heart seeks pleasure

Sign up to the Best of Pan Macmillan newsletter to discover the best of our books, events and special offers. It's a sunny day in and Daya, a ballet student, is sitting in a park in Wales far away from her home in India. Unbeknownst to her, she is about to meet Aaftab, a young Muslim lawyer from Pakistan, and fall inexplicably in love. Even as Aaftab battles his heart, their relationship transcends the divides of religion, nationality and language. They forge profound bonds but the cataclysmic events of the year will have dangerous ramifications and push them to confront the most difficult complexities of their lives. Set in a world of students but breathtaking in its expansiveness, The Heart Asks Pleasure First is a spellbinding first novel that speaks urgently to the frailties of our times.

It's a sunny day in and Daya, a ballet student, is sitting in a park in Wales far away from her home in India. Unbeknownst to her, she is about to meet Aaftab, a young Muslim lawyer from Pakistan, and fall inexplicably in love. Even as Aaftab battles his heart, their relationship transcends the divides of religion, nationality and language. They forge profound bonds but the cataclysmic events of the year will have dangerous ramifications and push them to confront the most difficult complexities of their lives. Set in a world of students but breathtaking in its expansiveness, The Heart Asks Pleasure First is a spellbinding first novel that speaks urgently to the frailties of our times. Karuna Ezara Parikh humanizes the big themes of friendship and family, migration and xenophobia, with the deftness of a poet and the magic of a born storyteller.

The original score was composed by Michael Nyman and is his twentieth album release. Despite being called a "soundtrack", this is a partial score re-recording, as Nyman himself also performs the piano on the album whereas the film version is performed by lead actress Holly Hunter. The album design and illustration are by Dave McKean. The music has been re-recorded numerous times by different artists, and became the basis of Nyman's composition, The Piano Concerto which debuted in Perhaps the most unusual rerecording is by conductor Bill Broughton and the Orchestra of the Americas —an orchestral version sans piano.

And then — to go to sleep — And then — if it should be The will of its Inquisitor The liberty to die —. But, failing that, the heart will settle for being excused from pain, and to live a life without suffering pain. The Inquisitor — some religious figure who may call to mind the ultimate Inquisitor, God or Death — is the only one who can help us then.