Fauzia Rafique

In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir, author of The Second Sex, wrote: ‘All oppression creates a state of war, this is no exception.’ In The Adventures of Saheban, Fauzia Rafique has taken the principle, weaving this fundamental truth through the lives of four women. Saheban, heroine of a popular Pakistani folk story, rebels against her family, refusing an arranged marriage; Saheban, the weaponless Warrior, rebels against a male-dominated society; Ego Feathers is forced to write Saheban’s biography in secret code; and Fauzia, oppressed by rampant sexism in her native country, embarks on a new life in a different country, only to experience further oppression in the guise of racism, and economic disparity. Stumbling across Saheban’s biography, Fauzia cracks Ego Feathers code, ultimately (and hopefully) freeing herself from the chains that have bound her existence.