This debut novel introduces a promising Pakistani novelist and journalist, showcasing a fresh voice in U.S. literature. The narrative likely explores themes relevant to contemporary society, offering insights into cultural and personal experiences. Readers can expect a blend of storytelling that reflects the author's background, potentially addressing issues such as identity, migration, and the complexities of modern life.
In modern, beautiful Green City, the capital of South West Asia, gender selection, war and disease have brought the ratio of men to women to alarmingly low levels. The government uses terror and technology to control its people, and women must take multiple husbands to have children as quickly as possible. Yet there are women who resist, women who live in an underground collective and refuse to be part of the system. Secretly protected by the highest echelons of power, they emerge only at night, to provide to the rich and elite of Green City a type of commodity that nobody can buy: intimacy without sex. As it turns out, not even the most influential men can shield them from discovery and the dangers of ruthless punishment. This dystopian novel from one of Pakistan’s most talented writers is a modern-day parable, The Handmaid’s Tale about women’s lives in repressive Muslim countries everywhere. It takes the patriarchal practices of female seclusion and veiling, gender selection, and control over women’s bodies, amplifies and distorts them in a truly terrifying way to imagine a world of post-religious authoritarianism.
Set in a dystopian future, the narrative explores a society where oppressive government leaders control women's freedom and reproductive rights. The story delves into the struggles and resistance of women against this authoritarian regime, highlighting themes of autonomy and empowerment in a world that seeks to suppress them. Through its characters and conflicts, it raises critical questions about gender, power, and the fight for personal agency.