Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

As atmospheric and suspenseful as its predecessors, <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Shabanu and <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Haveli, this evocative novel transports readers to an intriguing corner of the universe to provide an insightful look at modern Middle Eastern culture. Fortunately, readers need no previous familiarity with the saga of Shabanu, fourth wife of a Pakistani tribal leader's son; they will readily enter Staples's world. As the story opens, Shabanu's husband, Rahim, has been killed by his brother during a land dispute, and Shabanu has gone into hiding, allowing her parents to believe she is dead. Meanwhile, her teenage daughter, Mumtaz, is being raised by an abusive aunt in the family compound. Mumtaz, often treated like a servant, finds a trustworthy friend and confidant in cousin Jameel, who now lives in America but returns with his parents to Pakistan each summer. As Staples investigates the perspectivesof the three main characters, Shabanu, Mumtaz and Jameel, she shows how each feels disjointed from the family but remains bound by ancient traditions. Western and Islamic ways clash, yet the author so thoroughly immerses readers in the setting that few will want to judge. Like most of Staples's fiction, this work significantly enlarges the reader's understanding of a complex society. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Apr.)

ALA Booklist (Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2008)

Even readers who know the Newbery Honor Book Shabanu (1989) and its sequel,     Haveli (1993), may find it hard to keep track of who's who in this follow-up, which unfolds through several switching narratives. Mumtaz, 15, has been raised by her hostile relative in contemporary Pakistan. When her mother, Shabanu, reappears after 10 years in hiding, Mumtaz must cope with the anger, depression, and guilt that results from their awkward reunion. Her cousin Jameel, also 15, lives most of the year in San Francisco, where he plans to attend college and loves blonde Chloe. When he returns to Lahore each year, he feels caught between two worlds. Then the teens' beloved, powerful  baba dies, leaving directions: Jameel and Mumtaz must marry. The cousins are best friends, but why should they marry and give up plans they have for the future? Readers will ponder the questions about responsibity and freedom Staples raises in the intriguing marriage drama.

Horn Book (Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

Ten years after the events of Haveli, Shabanu's daughter Mumtaz, fifteen, lives with her grandfather. After he dies, Mumtaz learns she must immediately marry her American cousin. The family's skirmishes, intrigues, and loves give this book the tenor of a dynastic epic, with a touch of the supernatural thrown in. Staples's quick-paced plotting and attention to sensual detail are thoroughly absorbing. Glos.

Kirkus Reviews

In this eloquently written sequel to Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (1989) and Haveli (1993), Shabanu has been in hiding for ten years, fearing for the life of her daughter, Mumtaz. Everyone, including her parents and daughter, believes Shabanu to be dead, but it's time for her to return from "the realm of the buried" and seek out her daughter. Fifteen-year-old Mumtaz has fallen in love with her Hindu tennis teacher at the Lahore Club; meanwhile, her cousin Jameel lives in California and has given his heart to a beautiful Jewish skateboarder. When the family's patriarch dies, his choice of successor stirs up old jealousies and renewed violence, causing the lives of Shabanu, Mumtaz and Jameel to converge. Staples skillfully draws readers into the complicated web of relationships in the fictional Amirzai family in this fascinating tale of the conflict between tribal tradition and modernization in contemporary Pakistan. Though this can stand on its own, familiarity with its predecessors adds depth and richness to an important saga. (author's note, glossary) (Fiction. 11+)

School Library Journal

Gr 7-10 Splendidly drawn characters caught between ancient Pakistani traditions and modern Western influences mark this strong sequel to Staples's Shabanu (1989) and Haveli (1993, both Knopf). For 10 years, Mumtaz has lived uneasily with her deceased father's extended family, sent there when her mother, Shabanu, staged her own death to protect her daughter from her treacherous Uncle Nazir. Attending a modern school and doted on by her grandfather Baba, a tribal patriarch who embraces Western ways of thinking, Mumtaz treasures the arrival each summer of her skateboarding cousin and best friend Jameel, who lives in California with his parents. At 15, Mumtaz is thrown into emotional disarray when she learns that Shabanu is alive and in hiding nearby. Then Baba's unexpected death prompts Jameel's succession as tribal leader, and the edict that Jameel and Mumtaz are to be married leaves the teens reeling. The richly detailed backdrop of upper-class Pakistani life in Lahore ranges from private country clubs to open-air markets, with exotic touches such as secret messages sent by pigeons. Staples adds a supernatural element via the djinn who appears to Mumtaz and Jameel in the form of Baba, offering posthumous guidance and protection. The author explores the role of educated women in traditional Islamic society, the importance of family and tribe in the Pakistani social structure, and the impact of Western education on emerging leadership through the candid reactions, honest emotions, and complex relationships of multidimensional people. Their story moves along quickly and intensely with elements of intrigue and adventure, holding readers' attention and sympathies. Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS

Voice of Youth Advocates

This sequel to Shabanu (Knopf, 1989/VOYA April 1990) and Haveli (1993/VOYA December 1993) finds the now not-quite-thirty-year-old Shabanu in hiding in her family's Lahore, Pakistan, city estate, where she has lived for ten years, sequestered on a rooftop. The onetime "daughter of the wind" can no longer tolerate hiding from the in-laws who think her dead and dreams of reuniting with her daughter, fifteen-year-old Mumtaz. Mumtaz, known as Muti, lives unhappily with Shabanu's dead husband's family, her education and upbringing assured by Shabanu's brother-in-law. A confluence of events-Shabanu's decision to leave the haveli and make herself known to her daughter, the grave illness of the family patriarch, and Muti and her cousin Jameel's first attempts at independence-lead to family crisis as disparate members of the clan battle for control. Staples's third novel recounts several incidents from the earlier books in the series (it has, after all, been over ten years since the publication of Haveli) but moves quickly toward its climax, the resolution of which might surprise Western readers. As usual, Staples includes rich, descriptive detail throughout the narrative and incorporates details of contemporary Pakistani life in a non-didactic way. The faster pace and shorter length of the third novel is in sharp contrast to the first two books, and although it might draw new readers, fans of Staples's other Shabanu stories might find themselves wanting more from this installment.-Amy S. Pattee.