Page 3 - Soneela Nankani News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

In this short story, Great Neck NY housewife Jean accompanies her oil exec husband to a city in an unnamed Middle Eastern country in the 1950s, believing that her self-perceived openness to the culture and her association with a local prince makes her superior to the other ex-pat wives. A foolish ac­cident in the desert outside the city leads Jean to an encounter with someone whom readers of Wilson’s novels Alif the Unseen and The Bird King will not only recognize, but will probably expect to turn up (at least, I sure did). This person brutally enlightens her about colonialism, racism, and feminism, shak­ing up Jean’s self-image and potentially offering her a new way forward. Soneela Nankani, who also narrated S.A. Chakraborty’s Daevabad Trilogy, turns in her usual excellent performance, believably evoking Jean’s naivete; the complex mix of kindness, exasperation, and contempt expressed by the prince; and the coolly detached viewpoint of the mysterious being Jean meets.

New yorkUnited statesGreat neckLos angelesSa chakraborty daevabadSoneela nankaniG willow wilsonAmy goldschlagerEmpty quarterBrilliance audioMiddle easternBird kingDaevabad trilogyContributing editorNew york reviewScience fiction reading