Set in the coastal city of Durban, South Africa, and seasoned with an atmospheric eeriness, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan features a crumbling mansion on a bluff overlooking the shimmering sea, and tells the captivating stories of the residents, past and present, who call it home.
The youngest resident is also the newest. Sana Malek and her father, Bilal, are transplants from "Jo'burg," and they are accompanied by the restless ghost of Sana's twin sister, a spiteful spirit who envies Sana for being the surviving sibling. Motherless, Sana is a quiet girl on the cusp of womanhood with mismatched clothes and an overwhelming curiosity about the history of her new home. Wandering the property is a djinn, the Arabic name for a spirit who can take human form. This ancient creature furtively guards the house's deserted east wing and is unsettled by Sana's late-night exploration of its dust-cloaked quarters.
The unfolding present-day drama alternates with the haunting story of the house's original inhabitants, a sugar tycoon named Akbar Ali Khan and his family. Here, the author entices her readers into the forgotten world of the charismatic Meena Begum, a poor factory worker who, against all odds, became Akbar's second wife. Theirs was a love story for the ages, a passionate union deeply resented by Akbar's rejected first wife and his dominating mother.
Shubnum Khan is a spellbinding storyteller and her subtly spooky debut is a marvelous literary tableau. As the drama cascades toward an astonishing conclusion, past and present collide, and truths tumble forth that will alter Sana's existence, and the djinn's afterlife, forever. --Shahina Piyarali, reviewer