Nominated by the Embassy of Pakistan
On December 27, 2007, Pakistan paused. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the first woman to lead a Muslim nation, was assassinated near Islamabad. In Karachi, Rafia Zakaria’s family faced a private crisis: her uncle Sohail, who had brought family shame, was near death.
Zakaria uses this moment to explore Pakistan and her family’s story. Her Muslim-Indian family moved from Bombay in 1962 after Partition, seeking opportunity. They prospered until the 1980s, when military rulers imposed strict Islamization, limiting women’s freedoms. The personal and political collide when Amina’s husband takes a second wife, a betrayal allowed under new laws.
The Upstairs Wife reveals the tension between hope and harsh reality, family and nation, dreams and betrayal.