|  | 
 Black Wings
Product Details:
Author: Sehba Sarwar | ISBN: 969-516-147-2 | Format: Paperback | Pages: 280 | Weight: 0.78 lbs | Pub. Date: 2004 | Publisher: Alhamra
DESCRIPTION
Yasmeen, a recent divorcée, is living in Houston with her young children, Saira and Sameer, when her mother, Laila, visits from Pakistan to meet her grandchildren for the first time. Estranged from Laila, whom she secretly blames for the death of her twin brother, Yasir, Yasmeen has been living in the United States for many years. But her mother’s visit and the stories she weaves for her grandchildren about Yasmeen and Yasir’s childhood in Karachi and Hawagali, the family’s mountain home in northern Pakistan, force Yasmeen to confront the past and its painful memories of loss.
Slowly, as mother and daughter share layers of magical stories to the children and to each other, Yasmeen learns about her mother’s secrets and the twisted circumstances of her twin’s death. Deciding to return to her homeland for a long overdue visit, Yasmeen takes a temporary leave from her life and her lover in Houston to visit Pakistan with her mother and children. More stories, real and magical, emerge as the fog continues to cloud the family’s past even as they wind their way into the Pakistani hill station and a confrontation with the past.
REVIEWS
“With a keen eye for sensory detail Sehba Sarwar evokes the ambiance of Pakistan as deftly as she portrays the life of a migrant family in America. A charming, suspenseful and well-structured first novel.” - Novelist Bapsi Sidhwa
“Sehba Sarwar spins a compelling tale of love and loss, weaving the story of Yasmeen’s estrangement from family, culture and homeland with the unraveling of a haunting family secret. As we learn more about the death of Yasmeen’s beloved twin many years before, we ache for Yasmeen and her mother, Laila, especially once they begin to renew conflicts from the past. And through this renewal, we savor family stories, stories that hold the key to the past, present and future.” - Marina Tristan, Assistant Director, Art Publico Press
“In this striking novel of transgression and redemption, Sehba Sarwar crosses continents to explore the intersecting losses of characters haunted by their pasts. Lush with storytelling and dreams, 'Black Wings' evokes the power of place from Texas to a mountainside in Pakistan and presents us with a mother and daughter bound to each other by mutual courage and complex sorrows.” - Jane Creighton, Associate Professor of English at University of Houston-Downtown.
|
|
