Comes The Dawn

It was quite by chance that I came to know of the manuscript of a novella written by a girl in her mid-teens. TahsinaYasmin, a fellow academic, told me that her daughter ParisaNawal had written it and asked if I could look at it and, if I thought it deserved publication, contribute a brief foreword. Having seen the manuscript I must say that it was happy chance that Tahsina approached me. It certainly ought to be published and read by anyone interested in life - and death. Comes the Dawn may seem overly poetic as a title, but it is quite apt in this case. Parisa has a precocious imagination, and she handles the English language with commendable skill. More importantly, perhaps, she controls the pace of her narrative so as to carry the reader along as she weaves a beguiling tale dealing with the ultimate question that has puzzled humankind - the relationship between death and life. Parisa's is a mythopoeic imagination. Death comes in the form of a fictional character called Merikh, and he interacts with humans, two female characters in particular. I will refrain from giving a plot summary, but I hope I have said enough to induce those who have read so far to continue till the end of the book. Let me round off this foreword by congratulating Parisa on her literary debut, and wishing her continued success. Kaiser Haq