As a Pakistani-born writer in Britain, Qaisra Shahraz has written extensively about cultural conflicts in Britain and  village life in Pakistan in her short stories.  Her first novel, The Holy Woman, takes a look at changing realities in a Pakistani village, as well as the  tussle between modernity and tradition in a feudal family.  At the heart of her romantic story is the ancient and cruel custom of marrying a daughter to the Quran, for the sake of keeping property in the family.  Qaisra Shahraz has used this in a most unusual way, to give her imagination full rein and spin a good yarn.

      The main protagonist is Zarri Bano, the beautiful and intelligent  daughter of  Habib, a landlord in Sindh, but at 27 she is still unmarried, having refused many proposals.  The attraction between her and Sikander Din, a prospective suitor who comes from Karachi, is instant, as is her possessive father’s hostility to him. Shortly afterwards, Zarri Bano goes to stay with Sikander’s family in Karachi. Her feudal grandfather is outraged. He considers this a slight on her honour and izzat .  But Zarri Bano’s mother argues  that “it is good for her to get to know Sikander and his  family before she marries him.”   Whether the daughter-in-law of a landowning patriarch would answer back in this manner, let alone permit her daughter to stay in a distant city, under the same roof as a prospective suitor, remains a moot point, particularly in the light of what follows.

      This difficulty over details, nuances and innuendoes, occurs in other parts of the narrative too and is common to the writing of many expatriate writers, particularly those for whom the emotional landscape of Pakistan is a form of reclamation.  This might not  affect the gist of Qaisra Shahraz’s narrative, or its psychological truth,  but it does unsettle the Pakistani reader for whom the accuracy of such information is essential to characterisation.

       The Holy Woman  has many vivid descriptions of palatial villas, dusty villages, rural customs and westernised urban sophistication, which conjure up many beautiful, colourful and contrasting images of Pakistan.  The great strength of this novel is the portrayal of the heroine, Zarri Bano.  She does not only dominate the narrative, but holds it together.  Zarri Bano’s only brother Jafar dies and her father – determined to thwart her marriage to Sikander, and ensure that the property remains in the family – falls back upon an ancient family custom, despite his wife’s entreaties.  He names Zarri Bano his heiress, which means she must be wed to the Quran and assume the title of  the holy woman – the Shahzadi ibadat.  One of the most interesting scenes in the book is that of the heartbroken Zarri Bano dressing herself up for this wedding in all the  traditional finery of a bride and then, as an act of rebellion, chopping off her hair, changing into simple garments and going down for her marriage celebrations, draped in a black burqa, to the horror of her family. 

        From that point, Zarri Bano becomes increasingly alienated from her relatives, particularly her father.  She learns to fight back and suppress her emotions for Sikander, even when his subsequent marriage means that the two of them must encounter each other quite often socially.  She proceeds to find freedom and empowerment through religion.  More than that, she realises that as a wife and mother, she would always have a secondary role to her husband, but as Shahzadi ibadat, she can be someone in her own right.  She becomes a religious scholar.  She goes to Cairo to study Islam.  She visits many other countries including India and Britain and brings other Muslim women closer to the message of the Quran.  But when the opportunity for a happy marriage comes her way, she is assailed with such guilt at the buried passion and feelings that surface, that she is ashamed and afraid.  And it is this spectrum of emotions, as well as her treatment of religion and the veil, which makes Qaisra Shahraz’s sensitive portrayal of  Zarri Bano so fascinating. 

       Qaisra Shahraz also shows very clearly how little control most women have over their lives in Pakistan and how easily they are morally blackmailed.  She also brings out the many social customs, the malicious and sly innuendoes which are used to emasculate women and throw aspersions on their chastity.

        As a foil to the privileged Zarri Bano’s life, Qaisra Shahraz tells a secondary story, about the village of Chiragpur.  The housekeeper’s highly educated daughter, Firdaus, becomes the headmistress of a large local school.  Khawar, the zamindar’s son is determined to marry her, but Firdaus, dogged by class prejudices, is faced with the enmity of Khawar’s proud and bitter mother, the widowed Chaudhrani Kaneez. 

       Qaisra Shahraz has now completed a sequel, Typhoon, set in Chiragpur.