The Tainted Shadow

This beautiful and atmospheric debut novel is about Sara, a teenage Jewish girl living in a Muslim environment in 18th century Yemen. Her stifling experiences force her to question what to expect from life. The desire for happiness leads her to divorce her physical identity from her spiritual one. From that point on, we witness the battle between the physical and the spiritual against Fate.
The effect is multi-layered and deep, fascinating and rich as we follow Sara. At whatever layer the reader enters Sara’s world, they will no doubt sense that they are smack in the middle of old world Arabia, veiled under rich fabrics as pungent aromas waft through the air. Also, this rich story is sprinkled with facts and information about the religion of Islam itself, lending to understanding by demystifying this faith.
Ultimately, The Tainted Shadow is both a sensual and intellectual experience; it explores the restless pursuit of our spirits and minds, and delves into the heart of freedom and identity.
Unlike ‘Brick Lane’ by Monica Ali and ‘White Teeth’ by Zadie Smith whose protagonists struggle for independence in the relative freedom of the West, Maleeha Kamal turns up the heat by focusing her protagonist as a Jewish girl mired in poverty in a Muslim country – an allegory of the struggle we face under harsh conditions.