Since I began writing this piece, my speculations about the fate of my own book in Pakistan subsided as I heard that the novel had made it past customs and into Pakistani bookstores, where it is selling well. When I went to the Book Corner to break the news to my manager friend, I found the book already on display at the front of the store. He had ordered 20 copies for sale among the small collection of new releases he stocks.

I visited him again the following weekend, and he told me that he'd sold out and had to restock, and that the prominent display of a cabaret dancer's thigh had not brought him any grief yet, from mullahs or anyone else.