LESSONS IN HUSBANDRY

Fired by Shaida Kazie Ali’s bold imagination and sparkling with her wry sense of humour, Lessons in Husbandry is a sad and funny celebration of what binds women and sets them free.

A winner of the University of Johannesburg Debut Prize for Literature, her first novel, Not a Fairytale, was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Award. She lives in Cape Town.

Fellow Cape Town author, Henrietta Rose-Innes, says of Lessons in Husbandry: “This perfectly shaped novel – love story, mystery , eulogy – is full of surprises.”

Shaida Kazie Ali writes with a delicate, poetic touch that tempers sorrow with humour. She has created a beguiling narrator in Malak, who schemes her way out of grief with the wit and sweetness of her famous cupcakes.

The back cover of Lessons in Husbandry reads: “When Amal vanishes without a trace, Malak not only inherits her sister’s wedding but also her fiancé and her house. It is an inconvenient convenience, which Malak and Taj endure as if they are keeping the slot open for the day Amal returns. Amal, however, keeps them waiting. But everything changes when Malak steps into a lift one day. She discovers that she isn’t made only of grief for her brilliant sister, and a risky double life with another man ensues - a life that leads inexorably to a new question – one just as burning as the question of what has happened to Amal: why can’t a Muslim woman have two husbands?”

Published by Umuzi, Lessons in Husbandry will be launched at IKE’s Books on April 19 at 18h00. The publication will be available thereafter at Adams Booksellers.