Customer Reviews

Sunlight on a Broken Column

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One of the best narratives, I have read, of an Indian woman's struggle for independence.

Based in the 1930s, it is the story of Laila, an orphaned daughter of a distinguished Muslim family & her struggle for her independence. The first part of her childhood is spent living with her deeply conservative paternal aunts who keep purdah & traditional grandfather. But with the death of her grandfather, her guardianship is transferred to her paternal uncle who is "liberal" but autocratic. Laila's struggles to come to terms with the two world she has been bought up, is set against the background of India's political struggle for independence.

India was a nation at the brink of independence, but in the conflict between its traditional past and independent future, the present seemed hazy. India's struggles echoed Laila's confusion. She lived in her uncle's house, where westernized views were preached, but not followed, leaving her resentful. Yet she was outwardly acquiescent, despite feeling that her obedience was crushing her personality and destroying her individuality. Finally she escaped the chains of tradition, by marrying Ameer, a man her family disapproved. But her struggles were still not over.

The book is remarkable in the way Attai Hosain presents the traditional world and the political scenario of the 1930s. The traditions, the clothes, the food, and the stories of the various servants, cousins and friends, evoke the traditional world with a sense of nostalgia. Laila's conflicts are so universal, yet there is a feeling of curiosity at the struggles faced by the women of the 1930's.

When I read the book, I was absolutely taken in with the India of the 1930s in her transitional phase with Laila caught in the middle of it. It is definitely worth a reading.

This is a semi-autobiographical story set in the last days of British rule in India and centres around the life of a young aristocratic Muslim girl just entering into womanhood. The author portrays the lifestyle of the rich Nawabs of India at that time in a delicious manner, which raised in me a wish that I had been born at that time! However, the story is in no way an idealistic approach rather it is very realistic indeed and the hopes, fears and doubts of this former ruling class are eloquently described as the British rule nears its end and Independence beckons. Who will go to Pakistan and who will remain in India? The changing fortunes of this powerful Nawab family makes absorbing, and for me, wistful and poignant, reading. The beauty is that all these events are related from the viewpoint of the leading character, interspersed with her burgeoning love-life as well and her confrontation with the traditional lifestyle of girls in her position.

A female friend of mine recommended this to me and now I heartily recommend it to you all! Very good indeed!

This is a semi-autobiographical story set in the last days of British rule in India and centres around the life of a young aristocratic Muslim girl just entering into womanhood. The author portrays the lifestyle of the rich Nawabs of India at that time in a delicious manner, which raised in me a wish that I had been born at that time! However, the story is in no way an idealistic approach rather it is very realistic indeed and the hopes, fears and doubts of this former ruling class are eloquently described as the British rule nears its end and Independence beckons. Who will go to Pakistan and who will remain in India? The changing fortunes of this powerful Nawab family makes absorbing, and for me, wistful and poignant, reading. The beauty is that all these events are related from the viewpoint of the leading character, interspersed with her burgeoning love-life as well and her confrontation with the traditional lifestyle of girls in her position.

A female friend of mine recommended this to me and now I heartily recommend it to you all! Very good indeed!

Attia Hosain was a part of the long tradition of progressive Muslim women writers of India, and she was quite a rebel in her time. This book was published in 1962 and describes a time before India's independence and the partition of India. Her ideas for the time are incendiary and progressive to the point to be considered un-Islamic - I guess in some parts of the world they still are. BUT considering the time and her upbringing she was an independent thinker beyond compare. I especially like the book for her ideas BUT also for the past she paints so beautifully; and while her protagonist rebels under the weight of the chains that women are bound in, and questions what she's told by her elders despite her lack of exposure, Hosain also evokes a real nostalgia and affection for an age of grace, beauty and civility gone by. She also paints honestly the poignant struggle of a young woman who loves her family dearly and yet must disagree with their assumptions and ways.