Service95 Recommends is the home of the books we love and reviews from our contributors. A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna dares to ask how far a woman will go to get what she wants.
What We Say: “A razor-sharp, emotionally charged novel about one woman’s fight to escape the confines of village life in Pakistan and claim something more. Tara escapes her violent brother and stifling village life by marrying into the middle class and moving to Pakistan’s capital. But domesticity and respectability quickly sour, and her hunger for freedom and status grows into obsession. As she chases the lives of the wealthy mothers around her, the past looms darkly. Set against political unrest and natural disaster, Dur e Aziz Amna’s novel is a fierce, unflinching portrait of class, ambition, and a woman pushed to the edge.” – Samantha de Haas
What They Say: “An intoxicating, high-voltage mix of female rage, economic ambition, erotic awakening, and biting disdain aimed at the expectations faced by women in contemporary Pakistani society… Never have my sympathies been so roused, tested, and provoked by a character both heroic and tragic, wily and cornered, raw and charred... a magnificent sophomore novel, replete with Amna’s trademark lyricism and sparkling wit.” – Aube Rey Lescure
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Samantha de Haas is Creative Production Manager at Service95
