Reviewed by Kellie Nissen
Sometimes it only takes the title and cover artwork to hook you – and How
to Free a Jinn (by debut author Raidah Shah Idil) with its glorious
multi-layered cover (illustrated by Kalp Sanghvi) did just that.
First question … what is a jinn? Second one … can I guess from the
artwork?
To answer the second question first: No, I couldn’t. (Turns out there
were many there, clear as day.)
And the first question? The answer would require more space than we have
here, but to put it simply, jinn are supernatural beings that inhabit a world
parallel to humans; they can be good or evil and are able to be seen by some people
– including our protagonist Insyirah and her grandmother, Nenek.
The story starts in Sydney, where Insyirah and her mother have been
living since Insyirah was a baby. However, the setting quickly moves to
Malaysia, where mother and daughter have returned to live with and care for
Nenek following the fiercely independent grandmother’s health scares.
As a teenager, Insyirah is reluctant to move away from the only home
she’s known and back to a country that is all but foreign to her. To her
surprise, she almost immediately feels at home and even makes friends on her
first day at school. Plus, she is intrigued by the school’s reputation for
being haunted and is immediately drawn back into the stories of jinn and other
supernatural occurrences told by her grandmother.
Yet, the happenings soon reveal themselves as much more than mere
bedtime stories aimed to make children behave – because Insyirah can not only
see jinn but can communicate with them and fall into their unseen world.
Author Raidah Shah Idil has taken centuries-old mythology and Islamic beliefs
and crafted them into a contemporary story that not only explores these beliefs
– making them accessible to the rest of us – but is also fiercely
character-driven as we see both Insyirah and her ancestral jinn, Bumi, become
stronger and more self-assured.
In her storytelling, Raidah Shah Idil has managed to educate readers on
Malay culture, inviting us in to see, hear and even taste a little of
day-to-day life that is often driven by ancient beliefs. At the same time,
she’s given us some compelling characters – strong women – and a rising and
falling emotional ride of joy, sorrow, love, and abject fear.
Readers aged 10–13 years and beyond will be in for a suspense-filled yet
heartwarming treat when they pick up How to Free a Jinn.
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