The Search

A quarter century after the war that was meant to bring liberation to Bangladesh, Mukti, a researcher, comes into Mariam's life, calling up memories that continue to haunt her. She remembers the wetlands, with their mystery and darkness, across which her young brother Montu and she fled to escape the violence. She remembers the day her brother walked away, never to be seen again, lost to the war which claimed many ambitious, idealistic, patriotic young men, swallowing them up before they even knew the meaning of war.

Shaheen Akhtar's mesmerizing and moving novel is set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh war of liberation and in her skillful hands, the war becomes a way to explore the violence done to women, and their courage, their tenderness, their heartbreak and betrayal and their search for love. Akhtar's is one of the younger voices to explore this hitherto hidden dimension of the history of Bangladesh.

Originally published in Bengali (this translation is by Ella Dutta), Talaash was awarded the Prothom Alo Literary Prize in 2004.