So That You Can Know Me by Yasmin Hameed

So That You Can Know Me

Yasmin Hameed

There are some wonderful short stories here. They are exotic and sad and sometimes shocking. I really got a flavour of what it is like to be an ordinary woman in Pakistan today.

Extract
Nisa looked around nervously as she walked along the dusty edge of the road on that suffocating July afternoon .... She tugged at the burqa round her shoulders as if afraid of being recognized through its thin georgette veil and the black silkly folds that enveloped her neat, compact little figure .... This was the first time in her whole life that she had embarked on a mission knowing it wasn't 'permitted'.
Parallels
  • Across the Lakes by Amal Chatterjee
  • Dreams of Dead Women's Handbags by Shena Mackay