
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Soneela Nankani
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By:
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Shubnum Khan
About this listen
"Rich and swoony...an ambitious delight, with rich characters and some exceptionally lovely writing...This is the start of a major career." -- The New York Times Book Review
AN INDIE NEXT PICK
A LIBRARY READS PICK
“A dark and heady dream of a book” (Alix E. Harrow) about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous
Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Nearly a century later, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for eclectic misfits, seeking solely to disappear into the mansion’s dark corridors. Except for Sana. Unlike the others, she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion: To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects—and to the door at its end, locked for decades.
Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room’s shadows is a besotted, grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena’s story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil. Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl’s search for belonging.©2024 Shubnum Khan (P)2024 Penguin Audio
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Critic reviews
A MUST-READ DEBUT NOVEL FROM LIBRARY READS, INDIENEXT, THE WEEK, IO9, BOOK RIOT, DEBUTIFUL, AUDIOFILE MAGAZINE, BORROW, READ, REPEAT, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, and SHELF AWARENESS
“The city of Durban on South Africa’s east coast falls psychically somewhere between Miami and New Orleans. It’s sugarcane-sticky and portside-seedy, a little glam, a little Miss Havisham. Add vervet monkeys and a turbulent colonial history and Durban Gothic should already be its own genre. That it’s not means Shubnum Khan gets to set the tone with her magical and only gently haunted haunted-house novel, ‘The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years’…Despite the Gothic trappings, this is not a novel of creeping dread. It’s rich and swoony, tilting for the ecstasy of Sufi poets like Rumi, with a wink to those epic Indian romance movies Pinky adores…The love story at the heart of the novel is grand and gorgeous and brave…an ambitious delight, with rich characters and some exceptionally lovely writing…A decade ago, Khan’s photograph made her a sensation. I suspect her writing will do the same again. This is the start of a major career.” — The New York Times Book Review
"Khan’s prose is lush and lovely, her pacing skillful, and she successfully weaves a complex plot with a large cast. A ghost story, a love story, a mystery—this seductive novel has it all."—Kirkus *starred revew*
"Khan stuns with a multigenerational gothic tale infused with magical realism, set at Akbar Manzil, a crumbling, formerly grand estate off the coast of South Africa that now serves as a boardinghouse....This novel is a mystery and a love story fraught with heartbreak, infused with Islamic mythology, and written in evocative, lyrical prose. Fans of Isabel Allende and Alice Hoffman will be enchanted with this beautiful book."—Library Journel *starred review*
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Brilliant storyteller!
- By BAE on 02-16-24
By: Yangsze Choo
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Anita de Monte Laughs Last
- A Novel
- By: Xochitl Gonzalez
- Narrated by: Jessica Pimentel, Jonathan Gregg, Stacy Gonzalez
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten—certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by privileged students whose futures are already paved out for them, Raquel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret.
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Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this book.
- By Ulissa on 03-14-24
By: Xochitl Gonzalez
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The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
- By: Stephen Graham Jones
- Narrated by: Shane Ghostkeeper, Marin Ireland, Owen Teale
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran Pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
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SGJ blows readers away again again
- By D. Evert on 03-20-25
A title I will listen to more than once
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Beautiful Detail
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The reading was very good. She understood the story and phrasing, adding (subtle, natural) atmosphere of her own to an already laden story. Only Tamilians and South Africans will wince at her pronunciation, but who can know so many languages!? For me as a standard “gora,” it was really nice to have someone able to bring her version of the culture, say the words and add the intonation which really brought the characters to life. I was tempted to add the kindle version so I could gobble down the story faster, but her reading kept me from it. I knew I would lose too much without her take on the story.
I came up with excuses to keep listening to this book when I should have been working
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emotionally intricate
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Defnitely to be read once
Worth reading
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A nice slow burn
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I did feel as though 1 or 2 characters could have been cut down to spend more time on the main characters. That may just be for selfish reasons and not a real critique, because I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to certain characters (without spoiling anything).
However, I really felt like I was in the story myself. The descriptions of everything were beautiful and I could really picture the entire scene, including the sounds and smells.
Worth the read!
Beautiful storytelling
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Evocative language, a languid, beautiful story
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I also liked how the book was read by the narrator, it was pleasant.
the imagery
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I am not sure if it is a particular character but so far there have been racist mentions of white people and black people. It caught the ear and made me uncomfortable.
I expected so much more
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