BRICK LANE

The novel's main character, Nazneen, is herself one of Britain's new faces, an immigrant garment worker stitching zippers and buttons in her public housing flat. An unspoiled girl ''from the village,'' she arrives in London at the age of 18, when her father arranges her marriage to 40-year-old Chanu. She speaks no English, and Chanu sees no need for her to try.

 Her daughters will eventually teach her, and also her friend Razia, who learns ''so that when my children start telling dirty jokes behind my back, I'll be able to whip their backsides.'' At first, however, Nazneen's England is so narrow that she's afraid to leave what's euphemistically called the ''estate,'' and her only distraction is the exotic televised image of Torvill and Dean. ''Ice e-skating,'' she calls it.

London isn't home, not for Nazneen, and even less so for Chanu, who plans to go back to Bangladesh ''when I am a success.'' But success never comes. Chanu's degree is never finished, and he frames his certificate for ''cycling proficiency'' instead. It's easy enough to laugh at him, but like Nazneen herself we also learn to appreciate his kindness -- and realize too, from the ''unhappy'' eyes in his ''round, jolly face,'' that he already knows he has failed.