Qaisra Shahraz brings you into a world that you have most likely never visited or known. She sets up photographic shots of details that morph into cinematic scenes: you can feel the hot sun on your skin; hear the chatter around the table; and see the anguish and laughter etched into characters that become as familiar to you as people you know. And although you feel you are there, you must watch, listen, and wait to see what will happen next.

Revolt is a family saga woven through a diversity of stories and many people, and this is where the author (also a talented scriptwriter) really shows her skill in bringing characters to such fullness of life, you can see the roundness of their flesh and hear their voices.

Traversing from England to small town life in the fictional village of Gulistan in Pakistan, the different story strands all interweave to the central point of focus; three wealthy sisters, their children and servants, and the effect of choices that reverberate on family and outsiders.

Many emotions and beliefs are explored through the themes of family drama, love, loss, abandonment, desire for reconciliation, and age-old and contemporary issues of conflict; political and religious chaos and Pakistani Muslim values in juxtaposition to the modern West. The intrusion of the West comes via the necessity and desire of immigration. Bringing notions of romantic love, modern values shake traditional beliefs and customs when East meets West. The resentment and envy of those left behind is a relative parable to those who dared to leave and now find themselves straddling two worlds in which they find they belong to neither - and the riches that it brought them also brings them down.

Having been compared to Jane Austen and Isabel Allende, Qaisra Shahraz has established her own combination of parody, magic realism, wit and charm. She writes beautifully, but accessibly, and precisely details intricate outlines of human character and behaviour. This is an author who should be on everyone’s Books to Read list.