HarperCollins India presents Hijabistan by Sabyn Javeri

7 February 2019

HarperCollins India is proud to announce

                an exploration into the relationship between attire and identity

HIJABISTAN

SABYN JAVERI

 A feisty, urban-women–centric collection of short stories in a fresh, powerful voice

A young kleptomaniac infuses thrill into her suffocating life by using her abaya to steal lipsticks and flash men.

An office worker feels empowered through sex, shunning her inhibitions but not her hijab … until she realizes that the real veil is drawn across her desires and not her body.

A British-Asian Muslim girl finds herself drawn to the jihad in Syria only to realize the real fight is inside her.

A young Pakistani bride in the West asserts her identity through the hijab in her new and unfamiliar surroundings, leading to unexpected consequences.

The hijab constricts as it liberates. Not just a piece of garment, it is a worldview, an emblem of the assertion of a Muslim woman’s identity, and equally a symbol of oppression. Set in Pakistan and the UK, this unusual and provocative collection of short stories explores the lives of women crushed under the weight of the all-encompassing veil and those who feel sheltered by it.

SABYN JAVERI is an award-winning short-story writer and a novelist. She is a professor of literature and creative writing in Pakistan. Her first novel, Nobody Killed Her, was published by HarperCollins in 2017.

For interviews, reviews and excerpts, please call or email

+91 8826946430 Percy.bharucha@harpercollins-india.com

PB | Fiction | 224 pp | Rs 399