Call Her Freedom, Tara Dorabji
Call Her Freedom, Tara Dorabji
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

Call Her Freedom

Author: Tara Dorabji

Narrator: Soneela Nankani

Unabridged: 9 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/21/2025


Synopsis

A “rich and beautifully crafted multigenerational epic” (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Daughter) following one woman’s struggle to protect her culture and her family amidst the backdrop of a military occupation.

Aisha and her mother, Noorjahan, live on the outskirts of their remote mountain village nestled among the Himalayas—two women alone in a world dominated by men. As the village midwife, Noorjahan teaches Aisha how to heal using local herbs and remedies.

When Aisha’s hand is betrothed to a local boy, she is forced to abandon her dreams of going to university. Soon her mother’s secrets come back to haunt her, and Aisha’s marriage and a growing military presence force her to make impossible choices in order to save her family and preserve the independence Noorjahan fought for. What follows is a family chronicle brimming with life, love, and humor, about sacrifice and honor and fighting for your home and culture in the face of occupation.

Call Her Freedom is a deeply moving novel about one woman’s love for her family, and an epic investigation of colonialism, militarization, and loss of innocence on the journey to creating home. Spanning 1969 to 2022, this is a love story that untangles family secrets and heals generational wounds, announcing Tara Dorabji as a thrilling new voice in fiction.

About Tara Dorabji

Tara Dorabji is the author of the novel, Call Her Freedom, winner of the Simon & Schuster Books Like Us first novel contest. She is the daughter of Parsi-Indian and German-Italian migrants. Her documentary film series on human rights defenders in Kashmir won awards at over a dozen film festivals throughout Asia and the USA. Tara’s publications include Al JazeeraThe Chicago QuarterlyHuizache, and acclaimed anthologies: Good Girls Marry Doctors and All the Women in My Family Sing. She lives in Northern California with her family and rabbit.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ann on October 06, 2024

This novel beautifully and brutally tells the story of a woman and her family in what is almost surely Kashmir (although the country has a different name) from 1960 through current times. As the novel begins, Aisha is a child and the daughter of Noorjahan, a healer and midwife, who is an outcast bec......more

Goodreads review by Jenny on November 01, 2024

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-book. I enjoy reading books about other cultures and histories, especially those I don't know much or even anything about. I've never read a book that takes place in Kashmir before, and I don't know anything about the conflict in Kashmir, unfortuna......more

Goodreads review by Kenzie | kenzienoelle.reads on January 31, 2025

2.5 stars. First off, a moment for this stunning cover!!🤩👏🏼. Unfortunately, the cover was probably my favorite thing about this book. I’m so sad to be writing out these thoughts because this book was on my most anticipated list and I love getting to champion a debut, especially a historical fiction......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on March 16, 2025

I was baffled when I started reading this- not only had I never heard of Charagan or Nadistan but I couldn’t find them online either. Had these places been obliterated? No- when I finally googled right, I discovered the locations were fictional and the story actually takes place in Kashmir. Did the......more

Goodreads review by Di on April 03, 2025

This book was pretty heavy. It is often described as a family saga, but I would characterize it more as a book about a family struggling for survival in a militarized state. It is mostly set in a fictionalized village called Poshkarbal in the foothills of the Himalayas. This author has done other wo......more


Quotes

"Soneela Nankani’s narration brings warmth and depth to Aisha’s story. Nankani captures the emotional weight of Aisha’s choices as she navigates family duty and her desire for personal freedom. Nankani’s performance shifts seamlessly between Aisha's interior world and the tension that builds as an Indo-Chinese military conflict disrupts daily life in 1969. Long-buried family secrets surface, forcing Aisha to fight for her family’s survival. Nankani’s voice enhances the novel’s themes of resilience, sacrifice, and love, immersing the listener in a multigenerational story that explores the cost of survival and the pursuit of self-determination."