Setting

Time period

The events described in Sarfraz Manzoor’s autobiography Greetings from Bury Park mainly take place between 1971 – the year when Sarfraz was born – and 2007 – the year when he published his memoir. 

Sarfraz Manzoor was born in 1971 in Pakistan, just before the beginning of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. In his memoir, Sarfraz talks about his mother and siblings witnessing Indian fighter jets bombing the city of Karachi, where they lived: 

Our home had no windows or doors and we could see the jets flying over our heads as they dropped bombs on oil depots and refineries. The bombing caused a power cut in the area and the lights went out in our house. My mother grabbed me in her arms and, taking Navela and Sohail with her, crouched under the stairs waiting for the raid to be over. I was six months old. (My Father’s House, 23%)

The dramatic events persuade Mohammed to promise his family that they would be reunited soon in Britain. 

Sarfraz often talks about the time before his birth, when his parents decided to get married: 

Mohammed Manzoor and Rasool Bibi married in 1960 – neither could recall the precise date – amidst controversy. My father’s family were against the marriage because they thought he could do better. Mohammed’s brothers and sisters could not understand why he was willing to marry someone with such poor prospects when there were other more attractive girls available. (My Father’s House, 11%)

The events that took place before Sarfraz’s birth help him build a complex portrait of his family, particularly of his mother and father. In sharing stories about his father’s past – including the eleven years he spent away from his wife and children in Britain – Sarfraz begins to understand Mohammed and reconcile with him after his death. 

Physical setting

The physical setting alternates between the different districts in Luton where the Manzoor family lives. At first, the Manzoor family lives in Bury Park, in a “two-bedroom terraced house on Selbourne Road” (My Father’s House, 30%). Later on, Navela and Sohail convince their parents to move to Marsh Farm, a Luton suburb that is closer to their school. Sa...