The Oracle of Hate

by Hamza Jalil Albasit

English 304 pages 1 edition

For ten years, Waleed has been living under a curse; his mother, Fouzia, had traded his soul for a second son by scheming with a Satanic sorcerer. Now twenty-three, Waleed is thrown into the dark underbelly of Karachi when he gets mugged by two mysterious bike riders. He seeks revenge—first by hunting for his assaulters, and then, seduced by thuggery, becoming a street criminal himself. However, his nights of marauding and petty crime come to an abrupt end when he gets initiated into the Muhajir Liberation Party, the ruling political party of Karachi. His family, the Ahmeds, are cursed with their own predicaments: his father Qazi-ud-din loses his job; Fouzia is haunted by an army of djinns; his sister Sadia suffers the unwanted attention of teenage boys even as she writes poems with her ghost sister, Nadia; and Waleed’s Satan-blessed younger brother Hameed struggles to remain God’s favourite child. As the general elections of 2013 draw near, Waleed is asked to assume command of a gang of lowlifes while simultaneously dealing with capital felonies, political deceit and family misfortune. On this path towards a life more meaningful than his molested past, will Waleed find redemption? Seamlessly blending political reality with magic realism, The Oracle of Hate is a daring debut—a unique and young voice from South Asia.