Skeena
- Publisher
- Libros Libertad
- Initial publish date
- Mar 2011
- Category
- Literary
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781926763125
- Publish Date
- Mar 2011
- List Price
- $20.00
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Description
Skeena is the story of a Muslim Canadian woman spanning thirty years of her life where she explores her changing environments, religious and cultural influences, and intimate relationships. Told by Skeena herself, it is a rare glimpse into the mind and perspectives of a Muslim woman. With the utter simplicity of style and expression, and a plot immersed in gripping realities, Fauzia has created a novel that is hard to put down even when it explodes some deep-rooted myths.
About the author
Fauzia Rafique is a South Asian Canadian writer of fiction and poetry. Her English and Punjabi writings have been published in Canada, Pakistan, and on the Web. Print titles include novel 'Skeena' (Punjabi, Lahore 2007) and anthology 'Aurat Durbar' (English, Toronto 1995).A selection of her English and Punjabi poetry 'Passion-Fruit/Tahnget-Phal' is due to come out in the summer of 2011 from Lahore.She is a blogger and a web designer, and maintains sites and blogs on violence against women, environment and Punjabi literature and art.Fauzia worked as a Screenwriter for Pakistan Television, and adapted the first novel of Fyodor Dostoevsky titled 'Poor Folk' (1846) in Punjabi as 'Apay Ranjha Hoi' (14 Episodes, 55 minutes each, PTV Lahore 1976), and Altaf Fatima's Urdu novel 'Dastak Na Do' (13 Episodes, 25 minutes each, PTV Lahore, 1975). She also wrote an original play on the profile of a Rag Picker (55 minutes, PTV Quetta, 1985).
Excerpt: Skeena (by (author) Fauzia Rafique)
Manjeet introduced me to Iqbal Singh, the farm owner. A kind and familiar-looking man, he had asked me a couple of questions. I told him that I had picked fruits and vegetables in the Punjab for three years. The lie worked well, and I was hired as a farm Worker and assigned to tend tomatoes in the Greenhouse. And just like that, I had a job. This was my first job after 10 years of landing in Canada but within 36 hours of arriving in Surrey. I had no car but getting from Surrey to Cloverdale by 6:30am was no problem because a labor contractor picked us up and took us back in a discarded school bus. In my first season, I made $700 per month. It was less than minimum wage but was enough for one person to live on. It worked out better for me because Manjeet offered me a room in her house at half the market rent. She, as she does now, lived at the farm with her husband Bha Mahnga Singh and their two kids Parmjeet and Sukhwinder. It was the most wonderful time of my life, and BC is way more beautiful than any other place that I know. On a clear day at the farm, I could see the mountains from my window; and the air did not smell of gasoline. The environment was so peaceful that I could hear the hummingbirds even when sixty people were picking berries and chatting in the orchard with me. I was at home like I had never been in Canada. Manjeet and Bha Mahnga inducted me into their household not as a boarder but as a sister. That is what I also expected. Summer was busy, winter was no less. What was common was a sense of invigoration in my daily routine. All of us worked from five in the morning to nine or ten in the evening. Manjeet and I would make breakfasts and lunches, and get the kids ready; at 6:30, Bha Mahnga would drive them to school, and we would clean up and join him in the orchard by seven. From that time on, I would chase and pick berries, interrupted only by lunch and a couple of tea breaks. Evenings were spent watching TV, finishing household chores, reading stories and studying. I found myself in charge of Manjeet's children's education and wardrobe because the kids had assumed that coming from Toronto I would somehow be competitive in both. I tried to tell them that I had lived in a prison in Toronto but both Parmjeet and Sukhwinder thought it was an interesting story. I also did not want to think about it, so I began making use of the public library to stay on top of teen fashion and education.
Editorial Reviews
In this deeply human and heart-wrenching novel, loneliness and loss are felt, but Rafique provides gentle humour and a great deal of hope. In Skeena, Rafique teaches us about life and love. You will find yourself thinking about Skeena long after you have finished reading.
Lisa Collins
