by Selina Hossain (Author), Pascal Zinck (Editor), Jackie Kabir (Translator)
River of My Blood is a gripping tale of love and loss. The novel chronicles the life of Boori, a wild wisp of a girl as she hopscotches into adulthood and married life with an older relative, faces the stigma of being infertile and then tries to come to terms with the birth of a deaf and dumb boy. Her private wounds reflect national traumas as Haldi, her East Pakistan village is swept by Muktijuddho-the nine month-long bloody war of independence from which Bangladesh emerged as a sovereign state in 1971. Caught in the spiral of violence, powerless against the brutality of the Pakistani army, the young widow faces the most momentous choice she has ever had to make. One of the most compelling accounts to emerge on war, women's rights and patriarchy, River of My Blood is certain to stay with the reader long after the last page has been turned.