The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

Endlessly playful and richly imaginative, Shubnum Khan’s vibrant debut delves into the transformative powers of love and grief as it explores the legacy of South Africa’s complicated past.

Sana and Meena will never meet. They share little beyond Akbar Manzil, the sprawling mansion high on a clifftop above Durban that they both call home. When Meena fell in love with the owner of the house it was the grandest residence on South Africa’s eastern coast, its shining marble parapets and golden domes a testament to the wealthy Indian family’s prosperity.

Eight decades later when teenage Sana follows in her footsteps, Akbar Manzil stands in ruins, an isolated boarding house for eccentrics and misfits. This is a place where people come to forget. Or to be forgotten.

But unlike her neighbours Sana is curious about her new home, and finds herself irresistibly drawn to its deserted east wing. As she moves closer to unearthing Meena’s story, a grieving djinn begins to stir from its long sleep.

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, a mystery and an unforgettable tale of a young girl’s search for belonging.