The Obscure Logic of the Heart by Priya Basil

This is the fourth book I have received in the Transworld Book Challenge.

Lina and Anil meet at university and fall in love. From the first their relationship is difficult. Lina comes from a strict Muslim family and she can't tell them about Anil, who isn't Muslim. There is the problem of distance to overcome, when they graduate Anil goes back to his home in Kenya, where he is establishing himself as an architect. Lina goes to work for the UN, first in New York and then in Sudan. Anil's friends, especially his best friend Merc, are set against the match, saying it can't possibly work.

Anil is determined to make it work. He tolerates Lina's chronic lateness, her reluctance to commit, the fact he can't meet her family. Lina is torn between the pressure Anil puts on her, and the effort of deflecting her family's suspicions. Her problems are exacerbated when her mother finds a cache of letters from Anil which make the nature of their relationship clear. Lina tells her parents that she won't see Anil again, but of course she does.

Their family backgrounds are completely different. Lina's parents are solidly middle class. They are good people, but very rigid. Anil's family are very wealthy and influential. His mother holds parties to which she invites the great and the good. His father is a savvy businessman, but how he makes his money presents Lina with a professional dilemma later in the story. They welcome Lina into their home and are very generous to her, but cannot understand why she won't commit to their son.

One of the best things about the Transworld Book Challenge has been that it has introduced me to books that I never would've come across. While I'm glad to have read this one, I have to say that it wasn't really my cup of tea. I didn't quite get the love story, I didn't feel that it was a love so strong that it would overcome all the hurdles placed in front of it. I felt that Lina was a much more strongly drawn character than Anil - I would've liked to get to know Anil better. I sympathised with his friend Merc when he said that Lina was just string Anil along, I was irritated with her as well. I wanted her to decide one way or the other.