Free-spirited and rebellious, Saira has grown up in California with her beautiful, obedient sister Ameena. From childhood, she has broken the boundaries between her desire for independence and her family’s traditions – in particular, her Bombay-bred mother’s idea of how girls should behave. Now, hungry for experience and curious about the world, Saira travels to Karachi for a wedding, and stumbles on family secrets that will shape the rest of her life.
It’s the beginning of a journey of understanding and reconciliation that goes back three generations. Further surprises are to come as Saira visits London and discovers the political forces that have driven her father’s family, in India and in England. As her background gradually reveals itself, Saira finds that the battles she faces – over love, belonging and fulfilment – have faced others before, and comes to realise that her many-layered inheritance is a thing to be treasured.
In a beautifully written and deeply moving narrative, Nafisa Haji explores issues of displacement and belonging and the lure of family, home and tradition versus career and the excitement of the wider world – for men as well as women.
