Minaret By Leila Aboulela
Bloomsbury, £7.99

THIS book was shortlisted for the Orange Prize For Fiction 2006 and it's easy to see why.

It's a novel which deals with a sensitive subject – strife between different cultures – in a gentle, charming way which is thought-provoking.

Najwa cleans the houses of the rich in London. Little do those families know that she belonged to an upper class family and was educated at university.

The book opens with her down on her luck in London: "I've come down in the world. I've slid to a place where the ceiling is low and there isn't much room to move."

But she starts to go to the local Mosque where she finds comfort, Islam and love.