Inspired by the stories of people from the embattled region of Kashmir, Dorabji traces one family’s struggles from the 1970s through the near future of 2030. Aisha first appears as a young, socially isolated child living in the small mountain village of Poshkarbal with her mother, Noorjahan, a midwife. They live alone, and Noorjahan instructs Aisha in some of her traditional practices, but the girl lives under a cloud of uncertainty and silence concerning the circumstances of a long-ago fire at the family’s home and the whereabouts of her father, who has “left.” Noorjahan insists that Aisha attend a local, government-run school, despite the child’s great fears and the fact that few girls go to school. Over the years, Aisha develops into the star pupil of her class while also developing an awareness of the dangers presented to her by occupying forces—and the males within her own community. As members of Aisha’s family grapple with the realities of life under occupation and Aisha herself advances from childhood into marriage, motherhood, and greater knowledge of her family’s history, she is surrounded by points of decision: What is the value of education for women in a traditional society? In the face of increasing military activity, when is leaving your homeland the right decision? When is it best to abandon a long-held family enterprise in the covert cultivation of poppies? What right does one have to self-determination (or even happiness) amid terrible social and political upheaval? The true horrors of the region’s occupation are revealed in graphic accounts of torture and sexual assault experienced by Aisha and her kin as they bear the unbearable.
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English (US) ·