Fence
by Ilā Āraba Mahetā
Description:
"It was time for that tiny little dream that lay hidden all these years to gradually acquire a form and shape. The thought of making it come true was an audacious one. She dared not do it. On the other hand she dared a lot after all, she was Fateema Lokhandwala, a courageous young woman... " "As pots and words banged against each other, her two-wheeler would whizz past everything, leaving it all behind. Main road, Mashallah! Current-like, the city would course through her body... At such times, Fateema lived in the present, and in the future. " Thus begins Ila Arab Mehta s beautiful and skillfully crafted novel about the life of a young Muslim woman in present-day Gujarat. Situated in a time when society is divided along lines of religion, the novel is Fateema s story of triumph and tragedy as she carves, never fully, a place for herself in life. "Fence" is a much acclaimed novel, one of a kind in a literary tradition where the importance of multiple marginalities has been largely absent. "