Pan Macmillan to Publish Rafina by Shandana Minhas
Genre: Fiction Literary Contemporary Fiction – Novella
Imprint: Picador India
Hardback
Price: Rs 450
172 pp
Brilliantly observed, delightful and heartbreaking,
this is the story of seventeen-year-old
RAFINA
and her big dreams and misadventures
Rafina looks at the glamorous girl on the billboard outside her window in Karachi and thinks, It won’t be long before I’m up there. Too poor for college and dismissive of marriage, the clear-eyed young woman cajoles her mother’s friend and Radiance beauty parlour masseuse, Rosie khala, into taking her on as an apprentice.
Thus begin her brave misadventures – from clumsy parlour assistant, to mostly dependable tea girl, till in a stroke of serendipity, she is ‘discovered’.
Poised to have everything she thought she wanted, the only thing standing between Rafina and that billboard are the people who think she should still be using the service entrance.
PRAISE FOR SHANDANA MINHAS
‘Heartbreaking and hilarious, Daddy’s Boy is a seriously fun read.’ Mohammed Hanif for Daddy’s Boy
‘This touching and spunky story of a young Pakistani woman’s rejection of imposed and stereotyped “feminities” is honest, brutal and timely.’
Namita Gokhale for Tunnel Vision
About the author: SHANDANA MINHAS is the award-winning Pakistani author of the novels Tunnel Vision, Survival Tips for Lunatics and Daddy’s Boy.