A haunting addition to contemporary fiction, this compelling work explores memory, reconstructed and recalled, as a burden of choices. Stay With Me is a disturbing story about the trauma of torture that agitates the reader into empathizing with the victim who moves in and out of consciousness. While disjointed memories of betrayal, torment, love and suffering can deceive and destroy, yet they can also save and anesthetize.

It is as though this is a chronicle of our times, but one where the human spirit triumphs over tyranny, occupation and repression.

Maniza Naqvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan. Her other novels include Mass Transit (OUP, 1998) and On Air (OUP, 2000).

Reviews Converting tragedy into triumph, Maniza Naqvi’s novel is an aesthetic outburst that celebrates the spirit of survival. Amber Romasa Nagori Dawn 31 October 2004 This is a disturbing and intriguing story of torture and survival. The main character is a journalist who is initially invited by the establishment and then later tortured when she doesn’t conform to her hosts’ expectations. She finds the strength to face the ugliness and brutality of torture by recalling her past experiences. As she moves in and out of consciousness, her past life is reconstructed. The reader learns of her existence as a woman; her ideas, thoughts and feelings are captured as is the fleeting and complex nature of existence. Books & Authors Dawn 30 May 2004 Through broken sentences and scattered words, Maniza Naqvi brings alive the realities of state violence… The book has come at an important time. Writers in other countries have long explored, articulated and lived through state sponsored violence, repression and torture… Pakistan also needed someone to put a voice to this aspect…we can only hope more writers will decide to tackle similar themes…Naqvi has succeeded in creating a powerful work of fiction… Mahim Maher Books etc The Friday Times 4-7 June 2004 A disturbing narrative with moments of poetic pain and intensity, the work is tinged with sadness, but love endures despite the trauma of the women in the novel… Drifting in and out of consciousness, the protagonist walks the reader through disjointed memories of betrayal, torment, love and suffering, and the journey is not a pleasant one… the overall traumatic nature of the novel…leaves one feeling slightly bruised. Bilal Hamid Newsline June 2004   Another tour de force in Sama’s impressive list of accomplishments Jeeva Haroon She November 2006