The Storyteller’s Daughter – by Saira Shah; copyright 2003 by Saira Shah. A Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and Random House of Canada, Limited, Toronto. Originally published 2003 by Penguin Books, Ltd., London.
The author’s talent is in finding a voice which can soothe and the perplexity to relate to the dual, and duelling natures of a woman trying to concile the reality of her birth-country upbringing, versus the peoplehood and nation of her ancestry, which is also so much a part of her. So much of this book is relatable — her journeys back to her roots and the stories held in her heart.
The help with which she did wish to aid her fellow man (or woman, as this case so pertains) has reached its spiritual recipient in the publishing and telling of her own story. In inexplicable ways, it provided healing for an immediate need and longer-term balm through the mystical revelation bequeathed to a sister in a Jewish soul.
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