The Wandering Falcon

01 May, 2011

Jamil Ahmad

Hamish Hamilton,

192 pages, R399

It is true, I am neither a Mahsud nor a Wazir. But I can tell you as little about who I am as I can about who I shall be. Think of Tor Baz as your hunting falcon. That should be enough.

Set in the decades before the rise of the Taliban, Ahmad’s debut novel takes us into the forbidden areas where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet. The highly traditional, honour-bound culture of this region is revealed from the inside for the first time.