Husain, a New York gas station attendant, worries about love. Concerned for his ageing parents back in Pakistan, he makes a rash decision which has serious consequences for his relationship.

Story specially commissioned from Teju Cole, one of the most interesting writers on multiculturalism working today and read by Riz Ahmed.

Teju Cole is a Nigerian-American writer, photographer and art historian. His 2011 novel Open City was described by the Guardian as, “an excellent novel about spatial relations, layers of urban history and immigrant experience”. Using Cole’s trademark insight and subtlety, Second God explores how definitions of love can differ around the world, and what this means for two people in modern New York.

Producer: Simon Richardson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016. Show less