Shahnaz

Carol A. Stos is an assistant professor of Spanish Studies at Laurentian
University.

Shahnaz is the principle protagonist and narrator of the story that
bears her name. It is wholly her story, but just as much the story of
every kind of intimate relationship: child and parent, sibling, mother
and father, servant and master, woman and man, wife and husband, lovers
and those almost loved. With Shahnaz we experience her coming of age in
a personal and cultural journey that takes us from India to the United
States and back again, richly mapping the complexities and convolutions
of the human heart. With Shahnaz we live through all the little details
and life-altering events that can make one’s existence mundane or
content, happy or unbearably sad and desperate. With Shahnaz we learn
that no matter how far or long we travel, in time, in space, or in
ourselves, we will always carry with us the remembrance of the joys and
terrors of our past.

Hiro McIlwraith’s first novel is a compelling look at the intricacies
of human relationships, and a woman’s need to be herself. She explores
the desires and fears of her characters with empathy and the cool,
steady precision of a surgeon who must cut to the heart of the matter.
Her writing is clear and unadorned, yet rich in description. We truly
see, hear, taste and feel India; it is as different and exotic as is
Eugene, Oregon, once Shahnaz arrives there and we see it through her
eyes. The novel spans a mere 10 months, but McIlwraith’s technique of
slipping seamlessly back and forth in time and place creates a vivid
presence of memory and experience that draws the reader inextricably
into the story. It is a story that will have the reader looking forward
to McIlwraith’s next work.