It is easy to be apprehensive picking up a novel like Amal Unbound. There are many reasons for this — it is a novel for middle school kids, by a desi in America, writing for an international readership about a poor girl’s life of deprivation in a village in Pakistan. Seriously, this venture of author Aisha Saeed seems doomed until you read it.

It is easy to presume that the story would be full of dreary details of a miserable young rural girl and the tyranny of the male and money dominating Pakistani society. Interestingly, this isn’t so.

She uses simple prose to paint a vivid picture of rural life in Pakistan but she makes sure her readers, especially international ones, connect with it all through rich characterisation, especially of the young protagonist. Saeed’s skilful storytelling brings us characters that are revealed to us in layers as the story progresses.

Our heroine is very relatable for anyone who is even a bit familiar with Malala Yousufzai. Saeed has taken a cue from Malala’s real life story to show her heroine, Amal, face a different, but more common, struggle against poverty and feudal suppression to rise above her circumstances and pursue her passion for education and personal growth.

Young Amal is not shown as an outright rebel who puts up a fight every time she doesn’t get her way. No, she submits to what is asked of her, but finds a way in the tough circumstances to express her individuality and pursue her aspirations. Amal leaves school and stays home to look after her siblings and sick mother when she is told to do so. Her life is made more miserable when she is sent to work in the village landlord’s house as a punishment for being rude to him and to pay off the money her family owns him. She follows the bidding of the mistress, who too has issues of her own to overcome, learns to handle another maid, Nabila, who jealously strives to make Amal miserable and then learns how to work around the oppressing things.

Saeed succeeds in maintaining an optimistic and positive outlook, doesn’t let the protagonist’s spark for life get lost in the drudgery of her existence. It should make children who are able to read this English novel realise how lucky they are to have education, something they may not realise is only a dream for many.

Amal Unbound is written for young readers, but it will interest readers of all ages.

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 6th, 2019