All these transactions were recorded in her tidy script (which had won prizes at the Oxford Buttercup Model School in Mirpur Khas). The cash was collected in a small plastic bag. When her husband arrived, he seemed in a very great rush. He made her wait in the hallway, while he loaded the boxes into the van. Then he called through the gate for her to hurry. The van was a Ford Transit with a hatch dividing the cabin (where they sat) from the loading space at the back. It was there that their mattress was, and her aunt’s handsewn quilt. As they drove out of Dover town, back towards London, he turned on the radio, and the cabin was filled with strange new voices, singing and talking. She listened, not understanding, but knowing that what they sang was definitely haram. She wished Aliya was with her. It would be easier, in England, if she had just one friend. But there weren’t any other Sheedis from Pakistan in the whole of London, England, Europe. England was her country now and she was all alone.

TRANSLATOR: She is an anti-national.

JUDGE [to Solicitor]: Who hired the translator?

SOLICITOR: Apparently, he was hired by the Islands’ Council.

Over the next two years in London, Mariam tried to remember the advice her aunt had given her as she left – not just any advice, but a nugget chosen for her in particular – Don’t ask too many questions, Mariam Sheedi. Which was the opposite of what her father had told her when she was little: Intellectual curiosity is an escape from drudgery; never forget this, my little pumpkin flower. So it was in her father’s memory, rather than her aunt’s, that she began to keep her Notes on English Cities.

Dover: There are several Afghan refugees in this historic town on the English Channel. All of them are men. None of them wish to buy authentic Muslim clothing. They wear jeans, gold chains and spike their hair with gel.

JUDGE: Yes, but is he a professional?

SOLICITOR: I believe he [pause] normally works in the tandoori house in—

JUDGE: Unbelievable.

TRANSLATOR: She educates herself now.