THE SHADOW OF THE CRESCENT MOON by FATIMA BHUTTO

PUBLICATION DATE7th November 2013

This is a novel about a family - three brothers 

and their wives and lovers - set in a small town in 

Pakistan, close to the border with Afghanistan. At 

the heart of the novel are two women - the beautiful 

Samarra and the grief-stricken Mina. Through them 

we see a story of betrayal, of love and how conflict 

makes cowards of us all. With a brilliant twist, 

Fatima Bhutto’s novel explores how war forces the 

individual to make terrible choices, to choose hope 

over love, the future over the present. Devastatingly 

moving, fast-paced and deeply resonant, it is an 

extraordinary debut.

Fatima Bhutto was born in Kabul in 1982. She is one 

of the prominent Bhutto family, which counts among 

its members Fatima’s aunt, the assassinated former 

president Benazir Bhutto, and former president 

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Fatima’s maternal grandfather.

She is the author of Songs of Blood and Sword, 

published in 2010, which has been translated into

French, Italian, and Hindi. Fatima’s work has appeared 

in The Guardian, The Financial Times, and the New 

Statesman. She lives and writes in Karachi, Pakistan.

Praise for Songs of Blood and Sword:

`Her mesmerising book often has the feel of a 

detective inquiry into the events of a Jacobean

tragedy in which a dynasty is inexorably eliminated...’ 

Guardian

‘A story with dazzling twists and turns told by a trueblue 

member of the Bhutto fold.’ The Independent

Source: http://www.graal.com.pl/sites/default/files/katalogi/penguin-uk-rights-guide-frankfurt-2012.pdf