Unmarriageable

Alys Binat has found happiness teaching English literature to schoolgirls. Although she knows that many of her students won't finish their education before dropping out to marry, Alys still hopes to inspire them to dream of more than what's expected. When an invitation arrives for the biggest wedding their town has seen in years, Mrs Binat excitedly prepares her five unmarried daughters to hunt for prospective husbands. On the first night of the festivities, Alys's eldest sister, Jena, catches the eye of Fahad Bingla. But his friend Valentine Darsee is clearly unimpressed by the Binat family. As the days of lavish wedding parties unfold, the Binats wait breathlessly to see if Jena will land a proposal - and Alys begins to realise that Darsee's manner may hide a very different man to the one she judged at first sight. An essential guide to marriage, class and sisterhood in modern-day Pakistan