Qaisra Shahraz – författare

An incisive portrait of small-town life, exploding into a panoramic portrayal of the nature of change, freedom, pride and prejudice.

"Gripping, hugely involving, and very satisfying" KATE MOSSE"A dramatic story of family intrigue, religious passions and riproaring romance" MICHELE ROBERTSTyphoon is set in Chiragpur, a Pakistani village warped in time, space and guilt, whose inhabitants are still traumatised by what happened some twenty years earlier in a courtroom (kacheri). With the arrival of a beautiful stranger from the city, the villagers are helplessly swept along by a typhoon-like series of events and become buried under the burden of their guilt.Closely guarding their small silk parcels containing a lock of a woman's hair, they all hope to return it to its rightful owner and beg her forgiveness. Typhoon is a tragic tale of three young women, each one demonised by their past: Naghmana - the glamorous stranger from the city; Chaudharani Kaniz - the village land baron, and Gulshan - the innocent wife. One is caught in the arms of another woman's husband in the middle of the night; another was raped in her youth; and the third woman's world fell apart as she lost her husband, before her eyes, to a total stranger and her mother vowed revenge. For all three there is no escape from what fate has in store.

"Gripping, hugely involving, and very satisfying" KATE MOSSESet in Pakistan, London and Egypt, this epic drama centres around the life of Zarri, the glamorous daughter of a wealthy landowner. Zarrie Bano is the charismatic 28-year-old daughter of a wealthy Muslim landowner. She falls in love with Sikander, a business tycoon to whom her father takes an immediate dislike. When Zarri's brother is killed in a freak accident, her father decides to make her his heiress, resurrecting an ancient tradition and forcing her into marriage to the Holy Koran, to become her clan's 'holy woman' - a nun.A powerful and compelling family drama, The Holy Woman is a romantic story of love and betrayal within a wealthy Muslim community.

Ranging widely across both historical periods and national boundaries, Qaisra Shahraz's new collection of short stories speaks powerfully to the burning ethical issues of the twenty-first century.