Gatekeeper's Wife And Other Stories, The

Rukhsana Ahmad has been writing short stories since the mid 1980s, and had a loyal readership at home and abroad long before the current boom in Pakistani fiction. Though she is perhaps best known for her plays and her pioneering translations, there s a lingering suspicion among her admirers that fiction --- and particularly short fiction --- is her first love. Varied in setting, style and length, ranging in genre from the intimacy of domestic realism to the bizarre, experimental and fantastic, these stories bear witness to our changing times. This first and generous collection is worth the long wait. --- AAMER HUSSEIN What a find Ahmad is! She writes about women s legacy of grief without self-pity and if there is anger, it surfaces as wit. FAY WELDON, Mail on Sunday Rukhsana Ahmad is a magnificent writer...I adored her short stories... Bapsi Sidhwa