Out of The silence- Owen Mullen

Afra and Jamal have been in each others lives as long as they can remember. When

Afra is taken away promised to a stranger as a bride, Jamal is downhearted but tell

her that he realises that he is not good enough for her and that she should go to the

family of a rich man. Once she has left he travels to Lahore to find his Uncle and

never having been out of his village before finds this both daunting and exciting in

equal measure. Wise words” If we allow the opinion of other to matter we’re in

their power. What they think of us becomes what we think of ourselves. The only

opinion of you that matters is your own”. Jamal works hard and rises through the

ranks in his uncle’s business. Afra meanwhile is not so fortunate. Years later when

there are some murders, the bangles that they gave each other are at the side of

the victims. What is going on? I really enjoyed this and liked and felt for both

Jamal and Afra. Women in Pakistan having to endure inequality for so long and

laws being very much against them. I learnt something from this book. For

example if a woman is raped- she has to get the word of four male witnesses

other wise she , the victim, is charged with adultery. What? OMG. (ref: Her

Honor: An Islamic Critique of the Rape Laws of Pakistan from a Woman-

Sensitive Perspective). Times have fortunately changed- the above paper

was written only in 1997, in real terms very recently.

A brave subject dealt with very well.

For more reviews please see my blog http://nickibookblog.blogspot.co.uk/

or follow me on Twitter @nickijmurphy1

Amazon Top 1000 reviewer.