Description

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The Monsoon War revisits the futuristic country of Before She Sleeps, where government leaders maintain a stranglehold over women's freedom and reproductive lives. In a neglected southern province, a female armed resistance bands together as the Hamiyat, the protectors of those who are too weak to withstand. Now, they plan a courageous attack on the perpetrators of this regime that will free them from its tyranny forever.

Alia Musa is the wife of three husbands in a remote mountain village of Dhofar. When her youngest child, Noor, discovers a group of women who have escaped the regime to take refuge on the mountain, Alia must leave her home, join the Hamiyat resistance, and find out just how far she is willing to go for the daughters she loves, the husband she adores, and the mountain that she calls home.

As a promising young soldier in the Hamiyat, Katy Azadeh has found family and home in the resistance. Kidnapped during an unexpected skirmish and taken from the mountains, Katy is seduced by the ways of wealthy neighboring Eastern Semitia. Despite their veiled promises, Katy must find her way back to the Hamiyat to face the war that threatens their very existence.

Commander Fatima Kara is a veteran of the Hamiyat, leading her women to protect the women of the mountain villages from the government agents and the abuses of polygamy. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from Eastern Semitia makes Fatima Kara gamble with the lives of her soldiers, to win the ultimate prize for them all - their freedom.

The Monsoon War is a near-future resistance novel that harnesses the powerful metaphor of women’s bodies as the battleground on which the wars of the future will be played out.

About the Author

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Bina Shah is a writer of English fiction and a journalist. She is the author of five novels and two collections of short stories, including Slum Child, which was a best seller in Italy. She was a regular contributor to the International New York Times from 2015-2018, and she is a provocative and bold commentator for the international press on Pakistan’s society, culture, and women’s rights. Her most recent novel, Before She Sleeps, originally published by Delphinium in 2018, has been published in Germany, Turkey and India. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and an alum of the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa. In 2021, she was awarded the rank of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government.

Praise For…

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"Betrayals, reversals, action and nail-biting suspense make for an addictive story... and the characters and their incandescent fellowship will keep you obsessed." — The Washington Post

“Shah moves through multiple women’s perspectives, each playing different roles as resistors, and though the story may contain familiar tropes, the result is a cinematic mashup of spy tale, geopolitical SF, and war epic. Shah ups the action and the stakes in this second foray into a feminist dystopia.” — Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Before She Sleeps: “Female-centered #Dystopia from #Pakistan: Before She Sleeps, Bina Shah. Fascinating new angle on ‘emotional work’!” — Margaret Atwood on Twitter

“A haunting, dystopian thriller…. Fans of The Handmaid’s Tale won’t want to miss this one.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“An overdue enlargement of the cultural conversation that [The Handmaid’s Tale] continues to provoke.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Charged and thrilling… exquisite… Shah develops her multiple characters beautifully… a thoughtful novel that will stick with me for a very long time.” — Los Angeles Times

“The most subtly disturbing of dystopias, richly textured and appallingly intimate, Before She Sleeps has hints of Huxley and Atwood but is uniquely Bina Shah.”  — Nick Harkaway, author of Gnomon and The Gone-Away World

“Gripping, smart and dystopian in the most terrifying way, which is to say that it seems so very possible. Green City is the glossy, AI-powered, deeply misogynistic technocracy of our nightmares, which the free yet confined women of the Panah desperately struggle to defy.” — Molly Crabapple, author of Drawing Blood

“A timely novel of women’s resistance and determination. … Bina Shah has given us a welcome addition to the feminist dystopian thriller that expands the genre beyond a white-centric gaze. Women’s stories and women’s voices—in all our diversity—are important and Bina Shah’s thriller is a necessary reminder.” — Mona Eltahawy, author of Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution

“Shah’s novel is both explicitly connected to Atwood’s marvel [The Handmaid’s Tale] and working to expand it by imagining what a secular, Middle Eastern Gilead might look like…. One of the best books of the second half of 2018.”  — The Millions

“Provocative.” — Syfy.com, One of the Best Books of the Summer

“Before She Sleeps stands on its own as a novel that will have readers contemplating rebellion and revolt, sex and power, and the many ways women’s bodies are sacrificed for the good of society.” — Booklist

Praise for A Season for Martyrs: “Riveting and articulate, A Season for Martyrs by Pakistani journalist Bina Shah is the author's debut novel for an American readership and clearly denotes her ability to deftly craft and complex story of suspenseful twists and unexpected turns that holds the reader's total attention from beginning to end. Very highly recommended for personal reading lists.”  — Buzzfeed, 10 Amazing Female Novelist Under 50

“Shah writes with grace and fluency, and it is clear from the start that her book reflects a maturity in style and skill at plot-management that are the hallmarks of the seasoned writer. Shah writes about her native soil as only an insider can. What gives the novel additional warmth and luster is the manner in which she portrays legendary Sindhi heroes…. Shah demonstrates skill at authentically depicting a staggering variety of male characters. The ability to transfer masculinity to paper is a rare trait…. A Season for Martyrs undoubtedly deserves much praise and will not disappoint readers.” — Midwest Book Review

“Good reading, urgently and cleanly told, for those interested in world events, as well as issues of identity and place in community.” — Library Journal, Top Indie Fiction for Fall 2014

“Shah's spirited novel is set in modern Pakistan and is steeped in its rich Sindhi heritage and culture. As it hurtles toward its violent climax, Shah's novel is both fascinating and eye-opening.” — Publishers Weekly

“In A Season for Martyrs, Bina Shah mixes myth with history and the personal with the political to sing of Sindh in the past and mourn for Pakistan in the present: a musical and mesmerizing work.” — Tabish Khair, author of How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position

“A Season for Martyrs not only tells an excellent story, set in the last three months of Benazir Bhutto’s life, but deftly interweaves it with the myths of the Sufi saints, who are buried and remembered in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The historical and mythical aspects of this important novel are to be savored: Bina Shah is an admirable writer.”  — Bapsi Sidhwa, author of Cracking India

“An intriguing novel that blends events in contemporary Pakistan with ancient Sindh…. Bina Shah has drawn heavily on her own cultural heritage, rich in its diversity and contradictions.” — Victoria Schofield, author of Kashmir in the Conflict, Afghan Frontier and Bhutto: Trial and Execution

“In her U.S. debut, Shah embarks on an epic narrative…. often written beautifully in the melodic style of oral storytelling…. ambitious in scope, A Season for Martyrs elegantly mixes both the pathos and grace that make up the soul of (Pakistan.)” — Booklist

“Listen to the voice of Bina Shah—you will hear a young, confident, compassionate new Pakistan. Her latest novel not only sparkles with wit and wisdom but is a deeply moving paean to the power of love for the author's Pakistani culture and people.” — Professor Akbar Ahmed, author, playwright, poet, and Chair of Islamic Studies at American University