British Pakistani author Kamila Shamsie’s riveting novel Broken Verses (2005) weaves intrigue, suspense, politics, and a mother-daughter tale into a Karachi-based narrative, exploring universal themes of love, loss, politics, activism, feminism, hope, and trauma. Aasmaani Inqalab, the thirty-year-old protagonist, faces each of the narrative’s themes as she unpacks the startling mystery surrounding her mother’s disappearance fourteen years earlier. Complicating this disappearance is the presumed death of her mother’s lover, a famous Pakistani poet who was reportedly beaten to death two years earlier by government henchmen. Shamsie is a multi-award winning author. In 2005, Broken Verses won the Patras Bokhari Award from the Academy of Letters in Pakistan. Aasmaani Inqalab has never gotten over the disappearance of her mother, Samina Akram. Samina was an outspoken activist, and when she initially disappeared fourteen years earlier, Aasmaani didn’t give it much thought. Samina was dating a famous man called the Poet, and whenever he went into exile, Samina would leave her daughter behind to follow him. In fact, Aasmaani’s parents were married for less than a year before her mother fell in love with the Poet. Aasmaani was raised by four parents: her mother, her stepmother, her father, and the Poet. However, her mother hasn’t been seen or heard from since, and the Poet was beaten to death by government henchmen two years before her disappearance. Rootless, without answers, and suffering from abandonment issues, Aasmaani moves from job to job, in her thirties and single. When Aasmaani takes a job at the first independent TV station in Pakistan, her troubled past soon collides with her troubled present. She runs into an old friend of her mother’s, Shehnaz Saeed, who is a famous actress coming out of retirement. The beautiful Shehnaz gives Aasmaani letters she received from an anonymous fan. The strange letters are written in a code, however, and though Shehnaz can’t crack the code, she remembers that the Poet and Samina always wrote to each other in code. Shocked, Aasmaani takes the letters and, on reviewing them, realizes that she can, in fact, remember the code because she learned it in her childhood. Moreover, the letters have been written recently, suggesting that they’re not only from the Poet but that he is still alive. This discovery upends Aasmaani’s world. If the Poet has been held captive this entire time, she wonders if her mother might also be found. With few clues, Aasmaani sets out to find the truth surrounding her mother’s disappearance. Broken Verses is a poignant mother-daughter tale, and Aasmaani finds herself struggling with memories from her abnormal childhood throughout. The narrative also touches on love, with mutual attraction budding between Aasmaani and Shehnaz’s son. Many critics also praise the political intrigue in Broken Verses because it works as a backdrop to the entire narrative but doesn’t overshadow other themes. The political backdrop centers on a critique of America, as well as a fear of fundamentalism making inroads into Pakistan’s government. Overall, Shamsie’s narrative is a touching exploration of modern-day Pakistan, effectively addressing forgiveness, politics, parent-child relationships, and women’s rights.

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Kamila Shamsie

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