Shubnum Khan: The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil

In a once majestic but now decaying mansion, itself a potent metaphor for the current state of Durban where it’s set, we meet the characters of Shubnum Khan’s latest novel. 

Originally developed as an ode to beauty, culture and heritage by its owner Akbar Ali Khan, who came to make his fortune in South Africa. 

In its current incarnation, the mansion has been converted to weary looking apartments with an assortment of residents each haunted by their own tragedies and pasts. 

With the latest edition being Bilal and his teenage daughter, Sana. 
In a mix of teenage angst and curiosity, Sana stumbles upon some of the houses supernatural inhabitants. In a novel that confronts the ghosts of the past and present, Shubnum weaves a magical tale of loss and becoming. 

We sat down with her to discuss the magic of things lost and forgotten, the gift of memory and archiving and what it means to make amends.