Afrah Jamal

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy First Published in Daily Times / Saturday, July 02, 2011 Republished by ChowkYadgar Reviewed by Afrah Jamal Jamil Ahmad’s debut novel is ostensibly about a boy and a stretch of land. At first glance, there is nothing special about Tor Baz. Is he the hero? He seems strangely absent from a major part of the narrative, so not a hero in the traditional sense of the word. If this is a coming of age story, the star billing must go to a land that has become a near permanent fixture on the western world’s radar. Written sometime in the early 1970s and published in 2008, The Wandering Falcon is a fictional piece of work that charts a slow meandering course through the lawless frontiers. Undercurrents of danger have always coursed through its veins but recent events have bestowed a more menacing look and feel to the wild west of Pakistan. Jamil Ahmad has a special insight into the ways of the tribes. As a Pakistani civil servant, he has