Zen

An unputdownable novel painting Mumbai of 1935 and 2019

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In 1935, Zainab Essanji wants to break out of her restricted life and be part of the independence movement. But it seems that all she is destined to do is embroider and wait to get married.

In 2019, Zainab Currimji, class XI student, is unhappy at getting drawn into debates and controversies which she would rather not be part of. But in India of 2019, how can one not be drawn into these?

In this deeply addictive, sweeping book about the life and times of the two Zainabs, is captured a short history of Mumbai, and of India. Of what we were and what we have become.

Zipping between the past and the present, between midnight’s children and millennials and getting both right, Shabnam Minwalla has crafted a page-turner whose heart is open, inclusive and populated by a host of memorable characters. -Jerry Pinto