And the World Changed : Contemporary Stories by Pakistani Women/edited by Muneeza Shamsie. New Delhi, Women Unlimited, 2005, xx, 278 p., (pbk). ISBN 81-88965-23-5.

    Contents: Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction/Muneeza Shamsie. 2. Rubies for a dog: a fable/Shahrukh Husain. 3. Look, but with love/Uzma Aslam Khan. 4. Kucha Miran Shah/Feryal Ali Gauhar. 5. The daughters of Aai/Fahmida Riaz. 6. Surface of glass/Kamila Shamsie. 7. The price of Hubris/Humera Afridi. 8. Existing at the centre, watching from the edges: Mandalas/Roshni Rustomji. 9. Staying/Sorayya Khan. 10. The arsonist/Bapsi Sidhwa. 11. Jungle Jim/Muneeza Shamsie. 12. Meeting the sphinx/Rukhsana Ahmad. 13. Boys will be boys/Sara Suleri Goodyear. 14. Runaway Truck Ramp/Soniah Kamal. 15. A pair of jeans/Qaisra Shahraz. 16. The optimist/Bina Shah. 17. A fair exchange/Tahira Naqvi. 18. Variations: a story in voices/Hima Raza. 19. Bloody Monday/Fawzia Afzal Khan. 20. Impossible shade of home brew/Maniza Naqvi. 21. Mirage/Talat Abbasi. 22. Black wings/Sehba Sarwar. 23. Scar/Aamina Ahmad. 24. And then the world changed/Sabyn Javeri-Jillani. 25. Clay fissures/Nayyara Rahman. Contributors.

   "Despite individual success, English language writing by Pakistani women, as a body of work, is not widely known. The intention of this anthology is to break that silence and explore the fiction and creative prose of Pakistani women who, by choosing English as their creative medium, write from the extreme edges of both English and Pakistani literature. Their work challenges the stereotypes imposed on them, as women and as writers, by the patriarchal culture of countries both in the diaspora and in Pakistan.

    This stunning collection of stories by 24 of the most creative women writers in Pakistan today is remarkable for the range and accomplishment of their writing. Fable, faction, prose-poetry, memoir as social history, autobiography as political commentary; familiar genres are coaxed into new forms, conventional content is upended to excavate experience and memory.

    A rich and uncommon literary feast, to savour and delight in."

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