The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid

'Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance?

Ah, I see I have alarmed you.

Do not be frightened by my beard.

I am a lover of America..

So speaks the mysterious stranger at a Lahore café as dusk settles. Invited to join him for tea, you learn his name and what led this speaker of immaculate English to seek you out. For he is more worldly than you might expect; better travelled and better educated. He knows the West better than you do. And as he tells you his story, of how he embraced the Western dream - and a Western woman - and how both betrayed him, so the night darkens. Then the true reason for your meeting becomes abundantly clear...