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. Some are spectral creatures, while others lived there long ago, their ancient secrets deeply embedded in the faded splendor of its elegant rooms.
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. Sitting empty for many decades, the sleepy old house, named Akbar Manzil, has been haphazardly converted into apartments with unreliable electricity and damp walls, and it is in one of these that the Maleks start their new life.
Their neighbors are an eccentric bunch, including an elderly doctor with a bad leg, a parrot named Mr. Patel, and two quarreling women whose intensely competitive relationship fuels the novel's comedic scenes. 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. Her subtly spooky debut is a marvelous literary tableau, offsetting an enchanting love story amid the opulent grounds of a palatial manor (once "the grandest house on the east coast of Africa") with revelations of the mysterious tragedy that led to Akbar Manzil's abandonment. 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
Shelf Talker: A crumbling old South African mansion by the sea is the setting for this subtly spooky drama about a young woman's quest to unravel the mysterious tragedy that occurred there many years ago.