A young man would not ordinarily be invited into a house harbouring a young girl. His status as an orphan, a tea boy, both made his presence possible and humiliated him, for his presence could not be misconstrued, must be exceptional. He could not compromise Yasmin.
In his much-anticipated first novel, Daniyal Mueenuddin presents four interconnected stories that contrast the lives of servants and their masters. One of them is Yazid, an orphan who is taken in by a bazaar salesman and rises to become a chauffeur in a wealthy household. His story shows how stark class differences can bring out the dark sides of friends as well as enemies, but also makes room for brave acts of love and friendship, and the quiet grandness in everyday life.
Spanning decades and set across a variety of rural and urban landscapes, This Is Where the Serpent Lives charts the history of modern Pakistan through the lives of a handful of individuals. It is an epic tale of power, greed, love and betrayal, tracing how far a person will bend or break under the weight of the world they were born into.
Daniyal Mueenuddin is a Pakistani American author based in Punjab and Oslo. He is the author of the critically acclaimed short story collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. Since its release earlier this year, This Is Where the Serpent Lives has received broad critical acclaim, with many critics hailing Mueenuddin as a literary rising star.
At the House of Literature, Mueenuddin meets author and translator Yukiko Duke for a conversation about class, struggle and belonging.
