The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years : A Novel

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE "Rich and swoony...an ambitious delight, with rich characters and some exceptionally lovely writing...This is the start of a major career." — The New York Times Book Review AN INDIE NEXT PICK A LIBRARY READS PICK “A dark and heady dream of a book” (Alix E. Harrow) about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Nearly a century later, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for eclectic misfits, seeking solely to disappear into the mansion’s dark corridors. Except for Sana. Unlike the others, she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion: To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects—and to the door at its end, locked for decades. Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room’s shadows is a besotted, grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena’s story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil. Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl’s search for belonging. Rebecca meets The House of Spirits in this sweeping, gorgeously atmospheric novel about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Now, nearly a century since it was built, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for misfits, seeking to forget their pasts and disappear into the mansions dark corridors. Until Sana. She and her father are the latest of Akbar Manzils long list of tenants, seeking a new home after suffering painful loss. Unlike the others, who choose not to look too closely at the mansions unsettling qualitiesthe strange assortment of bones in the overgrown garden, the mysterious figure seen to move sometimes at nightshe is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion. To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objectsand to the locked door at its end, unopened for decades. Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time, with faded photographs of a couple in love and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, the original owners second wife, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the rooms shadows is a grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who once loved Meena and has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meenas story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, awakening the memories of the house itselfand dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil. Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girls search for belonging. "Rebecca meets Fatima Farheen Mirza in this sweeping, gorgeously atmospheric novel about a ruined mansion by the sea, and a young girl who unearths the true story of the tragedy that happened there a hundred years ago Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Now, nearly a century since it was built, it stands in ruins-a boardinghouse for misfits, where people come to forget or be forgotten. Seeking a new home after a painful tragedy, Sana and her effusive father are Akbar Manzil's newest residents. There they find a community of eccentrics, each suffering their own losses and likewise searching for something-escape, solace, absolution. As Sana becomes increasingly entwined in their stories, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion itself: to the overgrown garden and its strange assortment of bones; to the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects; and to a dusty old bedroom, unopened for decades, where she finds faded photographs of Akbar Manzil's first residents and a worn diary with entries she cannot translate. As she explores the mansion's whispering corners, she dredges up its longest resident: a djinn, the only remnant of Akbar Manzil's dark past. With its help, she discovers the story of a young woman named Meena from a hundred years prior, the original owner's second wife, who lived in the East Wing at the height of Akbar Manzil's glory, whose tragic fate is the house's ultimate secret-and whose story is the answer that Sana had been searching for all along. Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning-with a cast of characters that will have you crying from both laughter and sorrow-Paper Flowers is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl's search for belonging"-- Provided by publisher