The Pakistani Bride is a novel that revolves around Zaitoon, the adopted daughter of Qasim, and her attempt to escape from the hands of her ruthless Kohistani husband.
The Pakistani Bride starts off with Qasim, who resides in Kohistan, which is a mountainous region located on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Qasim loses his family to a smallpox epidemic, which leaves him devastated. He then decides to relocate to Pakistan and live in the Punjab region there. When he reaches the city, he meets an orphaned girl, Zaitoon, whom he decides to adopt.
Qasim makes a great deal of money, enough to support his daughter and himself. As time passes by, Qasim begins to reminisce the time he spent in his native place, Kohistan. His 15 year old daughter imagines Kohistan to be a land filled with romantic, tall men. Qasim desires to get his daughter married to a man belonging to his own tribe.
When Qasim and his daughter visit Kohistan to meet the groom, Zaitoon is shocked, as the setting in that region is entirely different from what she imagined. The men are rude and dominate women to the point that any kind of disobedience from their end could result in a death penalty. Zaitoon finds herself stuck in a society that is unlike the civilized city life she’s experienced. She soon decides to run away from Kohistan, despite being aware of the serious consequences that might follow. The Pakistani Bride is a stunning novel based on passion, lust, cruelty, murder, power, and sensuality, written in a highly engrossing manner to keep the readers glued to the very end.
