What Kept You? (Raaza Jamshed, Giramondo)

Raaza Jamshed’s debut novel, What Kept You?, is a dazzling, poignant tale of defiance and metamorphosis in an ever-changing world. Whipping between the past and present, we first meet Jahan as a young girl growing up in Lahore, Pakistan, under the watchful and wise eye of her Nani. Here, she bridles against the constraints of her life, making all the wrong decisions but relishing in the fact that she made those decisions herself. In the present day, Jahan lives in rural Australia alongside her Arab husband, Ali, and their horses. Although physically separated from the land that bore her, Jahan is forced to reckon with the life and family she left behind when she experiences a miscarriage, and bushfires threaten their home. Written in painstakingly beautiful prose, What Kept You? is a masterfully crafted text challenging what it means to be a woman of colour in modern-day Australia. If the novel has one misstep, it’s an imbalance between its dual timelines; in many parts, the exploration of the past takes such precedence that the present-day narrative can feel diminished. One benefit of this, however, is the attention given to Jahan’s grandmother, making her absence in the present all the more heartbreaking. This relationship shines the brightest in the novel, and its complications will undoubtedly resonate with many in the diaspora. What Kept You? is the perfect novel for fans of Omar Sakr (Non-Essential Work) and Yumna Kassab (Politica). 

Books+Publishing reviewer: Nilab Siddiqi is a bookseller and publishing student based in Sydney set on diversifying the Australian industry. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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