An orphan working at a tea stall in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, grows up to become head chauffeur for a feudal family in Daniyal Mueenuddin's contemporary epic This Is Where the Serpent Lives. Spanning six decades, set in Pakistan, with scenes at a college campus in the U.S., this finely textured generational saga probes with rich irony the power dynamics between Western-educated Pakistani elites and the deferential but shrewd underlings who manage their agricultural estates and serve their tea.
The story opens in 1955 when a child found abandoned on the roadside is taken in by a kindly shop owner. When the boy, Bayazid, grows up, he is hired by the Atar family in Lahore and rises swiftly up the ranks. Hisham Atar considers himself "free from old-fashioned views of the relation between master and servant." He met his brilliant wife, Shahnaz, when they were undergraduates at Dartmouth College. Enjoying the "frictionless ease" of exceptional staff like Bayazid and his protégé Saqib, the Atars' marriage, an intriguing partnership, stays on a low, indifferent simmer until a stinging betrayal spirals into a crisis.
Mueenuddin--author of the award-winning story collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders--juxtaposes depictions of simple rural life at the Atars' farm with their extravagant, cocaine-fueled parties and art deco homes in the city. The central conflict in This Is Where the Serpent Lives unfolds with fable-like simplicity: Will Hisham and Shahnaz, with their Dartmouth education and modern sensibilities, embrace change when challenged or will they fall back on the harsh feudal ways that have kept their family comfortably on top for generations? Crafted with elegant prose, Mueenuddin's conclusions are infused with thrilling tension. --Shahina Piyarali