The World Unseen

The World Unseen is the heart-rending tale of forbidden love set within the confines of Indian culture during 1950's apartheid South Africa.

Shamim Sarif spins a web of enduring hope offset by emotionally and physically brutal reality that, while telling a thoroughly absorbing fictional tale also marches through prejudice and tradition of all kinds illustrating the fallacies behind them.

Is one race of people really worth less than another. Why does a person (in Indian culture) go through with an arranged marriage. Why is it that love is unacceptable depending on the race or gender of the people involved.

The story follows the lives of two Indian women. Amina, a successful business woman who is largely seen as an outcast amongst the Indian community as she very much has a mind of her own about the direction her life should take. In stark contrast, Miriam is married with three children and has always been obedient as appropriate to her extended family and to her husband from an arranged marriage. Upon first meeting, there is an instant and mutual attraction between the two women, and we are taken on an emotional journey through the delicate and treacherous development of their relationship.

For those looking for cheap thrills, this isn't some kind of lesbian smut novel. The building relationship is handled with all the time, care, and often heart-breaking sentiment one would expect in a realistic setting, not the stuff of waving fields of grass and hair flowing in the breeze. Sarif wrote a really great book here, and I'd highly recommend it.