Table of Contents

Contents Foreword 7 Preface 15 Azra Abbas, Voyages of Sleep 21 Altaf Fatima, When the Walls Weep 24 K hadija Mastoor, Godfather 31 Hijab Imtiaz Ali, Tempest in Autumn 47 Hijab Imtiaz Ali, Two Stories 58 Mumtaz Shirin, The Awakening 59 Mumtaz Shirin, Descent 75 Amtul Rahman Khatun, Grandma's Tale 84 Fahmida Riaz, Some Misaddressed Letters 95 Jamila Hashmi, Exile 105 Farkhanda Lodhi, Parbati 119 Umme Umara, The Sin of Innocence 141 K halida Husain, Hoops of Fire 159 Glossary 165 Biographical Notes 167

About the Author

Aamer Hussein was born in Karachi and moved to London in 1970. As well as an author, Hussein is a well-known reviewer and literary critic, contributing to The Independent and the TLS, as well as to several Pakistani national newspapers. He holds visiting posts at the University of Southampton and the University of London, and is the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Imperial College for 2003-2004. He was recently awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Literature.

Reviews

* 'An excellent anthology by Urdu's foremost women writers.' Muneeza Shamsie, Newsline 'I hope that this engaging and diverse work will encourage other translations of contemporary Pakistani fiction.' SOAS Bulletin