Summary

Shabanu

Daughter of the Wind
SAPPHIREBEAR15
Shabanu lives in Cholistan Desert in the Pakistan where they play games near the border of India. She is the second daughter of a peaceful, loving family of camel breeders. Shabanu is on the brink of womanhood; her older sister Phulan is already marriageable, and soon will be married to Hamir, a cousin of their family's. Shabanu is also betrothed to Hamir's brother, Murad. At twelve years old, Shabanu is not interested in marriage; she enjoys tending to the animals and especially teaching tricks to her beloved camels, Mithoo and Xhush Dil and Gulaband, a camel her dadi had recently sold against her will. Before Phulan's wedding, however, disaster strikes: Shabanu and Phulan accidentally stumble upon several strange men in the desert, among them an old, wicked landowner named Nazir; coveting Phulan's youth and beauty, Nazir murders her soon-to-be-husband, Hamir, and plans to take Phulan for himself. Phulan has no choice but to marry Hamir's brother, Murad, instead. When Shabanu learns that she must marry Nazir's brother, Rahim-sahib, an old man who already has three wives, to save her family and her sister's new marriage, she must make a choice between running away and obeying the wishes of her family.