6-28-09 Beneath My Mother’s Feet by Amjed Qamar – Fiction

4 – This is a fascinating look at the life of a common family in Pakistan.  Nazia is a 14 year old girl whose father is injured and whose mother must find work to support the family.  Her mother takes Nazia out of school to help her clean houses until the day Nazia is married.  She has already been promised to her cousin and is due to be married before the end of the year.  She tries to be a good daughter and help her mother take care of the family but she begins to have her own ideas about what she wants her life to be.  Nazia struggles with familial duty and her own heart.  A touching story about a girl who grows up quickly in a culture with very set expectations of how their women should behave.