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The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years: A Novel Hardcover – January 9, 2024
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"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.
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherViking
- Publication dateJanuary 9, 2024
- Dimensions6.21 x 1.04 x 9.28 inches
- ISBN-100593653459
- ISBN-13978-0593653456
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“The city of Durban on South Africa’s east coast falls psychically somewhere between Miami and New Orleans. It’s sugarcane-sticky and portside-seedy, a little glam, a little Miss Havisham. Add vervet monkeys and a turbulent colonial history and Durban Gothic should already be its own genre. That it’s not means Shubnum Khan gets to set the tone with her magical and only gently haunted haunted-house novel, ‘The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years’…Despite the Gothic trappings, this is not a novel of creeping dread. It’s rich and swoony, tilting for the ecstasy of Sufi poets like Rumi, with a wink to those epic Indian romance movies Pinky adores…The love story at the heart of the novel is grand and gorgeous and brave…an ambitious delight, with rich characters and some exceptionally lovely writing…A decade ago, Khan’s photograph made her a sensation. I suspect her writing will do the same again. This is the start of a major career.” — The New York Times Book Review
“Khan’s imbuement of sorrow and shame into the character of moldering 1920s palace Akbar Mansil is only one of the choices that render her American debut a triumph. Her novel is lush yet precise, tightly winding two narrative strands around each other to create a tapestry of love, loneliness, grief, and forgiveness…This foundation of the world’s cruelties melds with Khan’s rhythmic writing to create an immersive and memorable novel. The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is reminiscent of such luminaries as Isabel Allende and Elif Shafak, and the delicious power of its rotting manor will draw more recent comparisons to Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s incredible Mexican Gothic. Yet Shubnum Khan has created a fable all her own, and readers drawn to everything from historical fiction to young adult fantasy will find something to love in this haunting reverie of a book.” — Reactor (formerly Tor.com)
"The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a powerful, gorgeous novel. Shubnum Khan has written a story brimming with evocative prose, well-developed characters, and fantastical elements rendered so realistically you forget you’re reading speculative fiction. This is one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time." -- Locus Magazine
"Khan’s prose is lush and lovely, her pacing skillful, and she successfully weaves a complex plot with a large cast. A ghost story, a love story, a mystery—this seductive novel has it all." — Kirkus *starred revew*
"Khan stuns with a multigenerational gothic tale infused with magical realism, set at Akbar Manzil, a crumbling, formerly grand estate off the coast of South Africa that now serves as a boardinghouse....This novel is a mystery and a love story fraught with heartbreak, infused with Islamic mythology, and written in evocative, lyrical prose. Fans of Isabel Allende and Alice Hoffman will be enchanted with this beautiful book." — Library Journal *starred review*
"Dazzling...a magical and richly atmospheric gothic coming-of-age tale...Cinematic in scope and rendered in redolent prose, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a deeply immersive and inventive exploration of the many facets of love, loneliness and grief. Khan’s descriptions of Durban ground the story despite its fantastical elements, making the novel all the more compelling. Fueled by its vivid details, bewitching setting and a colorful cast of characters (including the house Akbar Manzil itself ), this engrossing read acts as a potent reminder that the past does not merely hold the power to hurt us, but also to heal us.” — BookPage
"Haunting and healing, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, with its shades of The House of Spirits and Rebecca, is one of the best books I've read this year…Khan's gorgeous writing lays bare what it means to love, grieve, haunt and, ultimately, let go." — Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author of Other Birds and Garden Spells
“Filled with wonder and colour, the secrets of the dilapidated mansion Akbar Manzil come to life in this rich tale of loss and love. The arrival of 15 year old Sana, who is herself haunted, is the catalyst that revives long-forgotten memories, as well as the spirit that still lingers in the empty rooms. I was enthralled and completely swept away by Khan's masterful unspooling of family secrets, fatal jealousy, and a love that endures after death.” — Yangsze Choo, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Tiger
"The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a dark and heady dream of a book, which reveals itself in layers as a gothic horror, a tragic romance, and a classic coming-of-age tale. Hauntingly gorgeous." — Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of The Starling House
"The Djinn Waits A Hundred Years is a cinematic spectacular, rife with doomed love and vengeful spirits and a lurking violence always waiting to pounce. Shubnum Khan has written a gorgeous gothic mystery, a fascinating meditation on the nature of forgiveness and time."
— Julia Fine, author of Maddalena and the Dark
“Haunting, beautiful, and atmospheric…I loved it.” — Jenny Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of Broken
"Beautifully written with intriguing characters and a story line that spans time, this subtle fantasy novel mixes historical fiction with dark fairy tales." — Booklist
"South African novelist Khan blends gothic tropes with Indian mythology in her poignant U.S. debut...The novel coheres as Khan portrays the house’s point of view, showing in playful and evocative prose how it responds to new residents (“As the new smells climb excitedly into the eaves... older smells, annoyed, move higher up away”). This holds its own in a crowded field of neo-gothic fiction." — Publishers Weekly
"Shubnum Khan is a spellbinding storyteller. Her subtly spooky debut is a marvelous literary tableau, offsetting an enchanting love story amid the opulent grounds of a palatial manor (once "the grandest house on the east coast of Africa") with revelations of the mysterious tragedy that led to Akbar Manzil's abandonment." — Shelf Awareness
"Khan, making her literary-horror debut, spins a haunted-house narrative around the under-utilized concept of the djinn, a spirit drawn from Arab and Muslim folklore. In the book, Sana finds the century-old diary of a girl named Meena. She then tries to find out what happened to her at the dilapidated Akbar Manzil mansion, now a boarding house for the down-on-their-luck, on the South African coast. But as Sana works to unravel Meena's mysteries, she is stalked by a djinn through the sprawling house, which is almost its own character." — The Week
"Filled with luscious prose, her book is a vivid coming-of-age that uses gothic undertones to explore romance and beauty in a refreshing and haunting way." — Debutiful
"Expect gothic thrills in this novel about the mysterious legacy of a mansion off the coast of South Africa." — AudioFile Magazine
"A sumptuous and haunting multi-generational saga set in a crumbling estate along the coast of South Africa, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years promises to be a fresh take on a classic and beloved genre.”— Polygon
“South African writer and artist Shubnum Khan makes her stunning U.S. debut with this genre-bending gothic horror fantasy mystery.”— Ms. Magazine
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Viking (January 9, 2024)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0593653459
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593653456
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.21 x 1.04 x 9.28 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #109,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #426 in Gothic Fiction
- #3,280 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction
- #12,204 in Historical Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Shubnum Khan](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/c1f4raaahl78grielaqf881mkn._SY600_.jpg)
Shubnum Khan is a South African author and artist. Her US and UK debut novel, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is an Indie Next Pick, A Library Reads Pick and a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, McSweeney's, O the Oprah Magazine, HuffPost and more.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the writing style lyrical and hauntingly beautiful. They also like the story and characters.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the prose and writing style lyrical. They also say the book is beautiful.
"I really enjoyed reading this book. I found it extremely poetic and dream-like...." Read more
"...On to the book. The writing is very clear. Had to lookup a few non-English expressions. The story is well structured...." Read more
"Shubnum’s writing is pure poetry and she has the ability to create a wholly unique and rich world, with imaginative characters who come to life...." Read more
"...And with a good dose of magic realism thrown in. The prose and writing is lyrical almost. Can’t wait to reaf what Shubnum Khan writes next." Read more
Customers find the story well structured and like the characters.
"...did leave me with some questions, but overall, I really liked the story and the characters. I would definitely read more by this author." Read more
"...Had to lookup a few non-English expressions. The story is well structured. All the threads come together at the end in surprising ways...." Read more
"...to create a wholly unique and rich world, with imaginative characters who come to life...." Read more
"Compelling complex characters. A beautiful love story and fascinating history of Indian migrants to South Africa. Heroic coming of age tale." Read more
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![Historical family drama with a haunted house](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/transparent-pixel._V192234675_.gif)
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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It took me a long time to finish this
I guess I do not like tear jerkers anymore
If I had to place this book into a category, it would be historical fiction with a touch of magical realism and gothic elements. The story is told in two parts. There is the not-so-distant past part of the story told through the eyes of Sana Malek as she moves into a dilapidated house called Akbar Manzil in Natal, South Africa with her father Bilal. As the small family adjusts to their new surroundings and neighbors, Sana begins to explore the house, learning all kinds of things about its past. This is where the other part of the story comes into play, and this part of the story takes place in the 1920s and early 1930s.
As a main character, Sana is shy, closeted and aloof. She is a young girl knocking at the door of womanhood. She is curious about love and studies it in all its capacities. But, Sana is haunted by tragedies that restrain her from living life as any other teenager would. She is endearing and emotionally vulnerable with a heart that is capable of unbridled love. She just doesn’t know it yet. Following along with her on her journey to self-love and freedom is irresistible.
As for the other characters in the story, they are each profound and have their special place in the story as well as in Akbar Manzil. Each and everyone is larger than life and jumps from the pages of the book to create vivid images and lasting impressions in the mind of any reader. In fact, one could say that Sana is the only character in the entire book that is subdued.
The pacing of the book is steady. The only real slow moment comes at the end when the book is wrapping up due to each individual character in Sana’s present getting their own conclusion in the story. Comparing the two time periods, the history of the house is definitely the more interesting story to learn about, but they are both very entertaining. They also give a glimpse into the subtle and not so subtle racism and classism aimed at certain ethnic groups of people in Indian culture.
This book definitely has hints of Rebecca as the blurb claims. It explores how love is found in the very last place we look. It also explores how the existence of true love can induce fear, induce violence, and lead to death secondary to a broken heart. And, this love isn’t just romantic love but love in all its facets.
Top reviews from other countries
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This is an expertly woven story, which flows along beautifully with rich metaphors, a layered sense of a lived-in space, and a subtlety of themes perhaps unexpected under the "Gothic" label. At its centre are different kinds of love, constantly blindsided (and reshaped?) by each other: love which nurtures and gives; love which transgresses and takes; love which is powerless to do anything but watch.
A good read. For me, it held up well to being consumed (primarily) in a 24-hour period of air travel. I would say that my favourite parts are the intimate scenes with just a few characters, whereas the group intro and wrap-up scenes come as a bit of an onrush. All in all, there is much to love throughout this book.
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This is set in a country and culture which is unfamiliar to me and so I am having to stop frequently to look up a phrase or word in the characters differing languages. Recommended.
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