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A Restless Wind
Zara Hamilton leads an apparently charmed life as a human rights lawyer in London – but she is haunted by questions about her past. Why did her mother disappear? What made her college sweetheart, the Maharaja of Trivikrampur, abandon her? Why did her husband renege on a plan to return to her native India? And why has she avoided visiting her much-loved family home in Qila, Trivikrampur?
After ten years as a Muslim in Britain, bereft of a homeland, Zara finally seeks the answers. When she returns to Qila, her world is shatteringly different, her aristocratic family mired in complications and far-right politics on the rise. Amid the unrest of a changing nation, Zara seeks the key to her mother's secret as contemporary resentments clash with a harmonious past.
"A Restless Wind piques the reader's interest from the very beginning with fine details and a strong and engaging protagonist." The Deccan Herald
"A fascinating emotional narrative of an expatriate, A Restless Wind intertwines the old with the new in modern India." Muneeza Shamsie, Newsline (Pakistan)
"When India Exotic meets India Embattled a great new transcontinental heroine is born. Husain has put the characters together with great care. But it is Zara who is the novel's anchor and her confusion over her identity propels the plot." Kaveree Bamzai, India Today
"One intriguing trait of Husain's narration is its delicately filigreed details. Her descriptions are graphic, colourful and semiotically nuanced. The semiotized narrative brings home to the reader the contrasted cultural set-ups, or, in phenomenological terms, the conflicting 'lifeworlds' that the different characters in the novel inhabit." Arnab Bhattacharya, The Telegraph, India
After ten years as a Muslim in Britain, bereft of a homeland, Zara finally seeks the answers. When she returns to Qila, her world is shatteringly different, her aristocratic family mired in complications and far-right politics on the rise. Amid the unrest of a changing nation, Zara seeks the key to her mother's secret as contemporary resentments clash with a harmonious past.
"A Restless Wind piques the reader's interest from the very beginning with fine details and a strong and engaging protagonist." The Deccan Herald
"A fascinating emotional narrative of an expatriate, A Restless Wind intertwines the old with the new in modern India." Muneeza Shamsie, Newsline (Pakistan)
"When India Exotic meets India Embattled a great new transcontinental heroine is born. Husain has put the characters together with great care. But it is Zara who is the novel's anchor and her confusion over her identity propels the plot." Kaveree Bamzai, India Today
"One intriguing trait of Husain's narration is its delicately filigreed details. Her descriptions are graphic, colourful and semiotically nuanced. The semiotized narrative brings home to the reader the contrasted cultural set-ups, or, in phenomenological terms, the conflicting 'lifeworlds' that the different characters in the novel inhabit." Arnab Bhattacharya, The Telegraph, India
- GenresFiction
412 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 10, 2013
3 people are currently reading
647 people want to read
About the author
Shahrukh Husain
47 books17 followersBorn 28 April 1950, she is the daughter of Prince Ahmed Husain and Sabeeha (Ahmed) Husain. In 1979 Shahrukh Husain received her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Shahrukh Husain has lectured extensively and has worked as a consultant on TV documentaries and in an advisory role to members of Parliament on cultural matters ranging from marriage and race to religion and language issues. Husain practises as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist specialising in transcultural work. Currently, she is working on an historical screenplay for Bend It Films and completing a series of mythology books for children. Husain resides in London.
Shahrukh Husain is best known for her works. Her adaptation of "In Custody" was Ismail Merchant's directorial debut and was nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1995.
Shahrukh Husain has lectured extensively and has worked as a consultant on TV documentaries and in an advisory role to members of Parliament on cultural matters ranging from marriage and race to religion and language issues. Husain practises as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist specialising in transcultural work. Currently, she is working on an historical screenplay for Bend It Films and completing a series of mythology books for children. Husain resides in London.
Shahrukh Husain is best known for her works. Her adaptation of "In Custody" was Ismail Merchant's directorial debut and was nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 30, 2015
Beautifully written, events are vividly described. Human emotions are expertly explored.
September 21, 2019
I think the problem lies in me. I simply couldn't relate to the characters in the book at all. Set in the backdrop of a royal family in Trivikram, the story unfolded in it's usual pace but seemed too melodramatic to me without any 'definitive'/'rather slow' build-up of characters or plot-lines. And as I said in the first line couldn't relate to the characters in the story at all. And hence abandoned it after reading only about one-fourth of it.
September 14, 2013
By Shahrukh Husain. Grade A.
Shahrukh Husain writes fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. She also writes screenplays and is currently working on two TV series and her second novel. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, she spent her growing years in Pakistan and India. She lives between London and the Sussex coast, and is married with two children and three step-children. She is a practicing analytical psychotherapist.
The story revolves around Zara, a girl isolated from the Ramzi family, the Gurujis to the royal family of Gujrat. She is a grown women now, works as a lawyer in UK and is married to a British gentleman who understands her background. As a child, she was abandoned by her mother and was taken in by her Aunt Hana, the Begum Sahiba who loved her like her own, perhaps even more.
Fate seems to be at play when her aunt writes to her on her death-bed an incomplete letter, requesting Zara to come home immediately while Zara comes across a client, Parveen, who has been tortured, beaten up and raped during the Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujrat and seeks asylum. Thus, Zara decides to go back to her “home”. Her aunt’s unfortunate death leaves her with an unsolved mystery, a mission regarding her will, and some ancestral secrets that have apparently led to the slow destruction of the Ramzi household. Secrets are revealed, accusations placed, and among all this, she is rekindled with her first love, the Maharaja of Trivikram himself. Re-emergence of all those buried feelings leaves Zara perplexed since they never really got closure from each other while on the other hand, her marriage seems to be failing. Other than that, Zara is also determined to help women like Parveen – her previous client – rise up from the god-forsaken conditions that they are forced into due to social taboos and what not.
All this, along with the infamous Gujrat Hindu-Muslim riots creates a histrionic atmosphere. The author takes the reader into that piece of time by meticulous descriptions of the Qila, the cleverly crafted characters and the equally engrossing events. The write-up is commendable. All the events are explained to the perfect extent, none too long. Though there are just a tiny bit extra flash backs that start abruptly and end in the same manner, the yarn is the ideal mixture of the past, the present and the future.
Originally reviewed at Vaultofbooks.com, a close-knit community of fanatical readers. We are looking for perceptive readers who can write well, and we are eager to provide lots of free books in exchange for reviews. Shoot us a mail at contact@vaultofbooks.com
Shahrukh Husain writes fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. She also writes screenplays and is currently working on two TV series and her second novel. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, she spent her growing years in Pakistan and India. She lives between London and the Sussex coast, and is married with two children and three step-children. She is a practicing analytical psychotherapist.
The story revolves around Zara, a girl isolated from the Ramzi family, the Gurujis to the royal family of Gujrat. She is a grown women now, works as a lawyer in UK and is married to a British gentleman who understands her background. As a child, she was abandoned by her mother and was taken in by her Aunt Hana, the Begum Sahiba who loved her like her own, perhaps even more.
Fate seems to be at play when her aunt writes to her on her death-bed an incomplete letter, requesting Zara to come home immediately while Zara comes across a client, Parveen, who has been tortured, beaten up and raped during the Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujrat and seeks asylum. Thus, Zara decides to go back to her “home”. Her aunt’s unfortunate death leaves her with an unsolved mystery, a mission regarding her will, and some ancestral secrets that have apparently led to the slow destruction of the Ramzi household. Secrets are revealed, accusations placed, and among all this, she is rekindled with her first love, the Maharaja of Trivikram himself. Re-emergence of all those buried feelings leaves Zara perplexed since they never really got closure from each other while on the other hand, her marriage seems to be failing. Other than that, Zara is also determined to help women like Parveen – her previous client – rise up from the god-forsaken conditions that they are forced into due to social taboos and what not.
All this, along with the infamous Gujrat Hindu-Muslim riots creates a histrionic atmosphere. The author takes the reader into that piece of time by meticulous descriptions of the Qila, the cleverly crafted characters and the equally engrossing events. The write-up is commendable. All the events are explained to the perfect extent, none too long. Though there are just a tiny bit extra flash backs that start abruptly and end in the same manner, the yarn is the ideal mixture of the past, the present and the future.
Originally reviewed at Vaultofbooks.com, a close-knit community of fanatical readers. We are looking for perceptive readers who can write well, and we are eager to provide lots of free books in exchange for reviews. Shoot us a mail at contact@vaultofbooks.com
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews