This novel is Ali’s first work of fiction and tells the story of two sisters who grow up in a Muslim home: Salena ‘the elder of two Cape sisters who is light-skinned and demure’ and Zuhra who is ‘dark and willful’.

Zuhra and Salena
As two different characters who learn to deal with life’s curveballs - especially so as they grow up in one household - their responses are dissimilar with Zuhra choosing to rely on her sense of humour and innate strength while Salena gives in to the choices and conditions of her parents and society at large.

The book is divided into two parts: Zuhra’s story which starts from her childhood through to university and finally, surprisingly, marriage and children. Her tongue-in-cheek observations and churlish, albeit ironic, comments are interspersed with fairytales we have often heard as children except that in these chapters they are interlaced with one of life’s conditions –unfairness.

Growing up
Salena’s story, though shorter, continues from Zuhra’s own observance of her elder sister and in her own dulcet tones tells of the reasoning of her choices, so different to Zuhra’s. Her story, while not spoken in the first person, like Zuhra’s own, is sung between fairytales that tell the tale of life’s unforgiving nature.

Not a Fairytale has simple syntax and sentence structure and for a while you do feel as though you’re lost in a fairytale but the reality of life quickly dispells that notion and the fairytales in between the chapters is almost a mocking of what we grow up believing.

Haven’t you been told enough times that when you grow up a prince will come and shatter the illusions that permeate our daily living? But when Salena marries a man who is so unappreciative of her efforts you realise that the prince can’t really exist. And yet, as in Zuhra’s case when the prince does come, you realise he is not what you imagined him to be and his presence can sometimes feel suffocating.

Synopsis of Not a Fairytale
Make no mistake, Not a Fairytale is not about dreams not coming true, because in some cases they do, but they come with a dose of reality. It’s like the recipes that you find in the book that conclude the chapters, whether it’s Aunty Anjum’s Moong Dhal Curry or the Dhania Chutney or even the Spell for a Baby Girl. These define the work that must be put in, in order to ensure a specific end result. Nothing in life comes by chance and nothing you want comes without some element of effort.

Shaida Kaize Ali’s first novel is not a mockery of the fairytales we heard as children or read from Hans Christian Anderson’s books, rather it is brings an understanding that being human requires more than castles, princes and dragons.

Not a Happy Ending
As human beings we bleed, we draw blood, we eat, we cry, we fail and we feel remorse and life wouldn’t be so amazing if we didn’t do any of those things. It makes winning, falling in love, having beautiful sex, laughing and feeling ecstasy feel so much more worth it.  This is a book worth reading, if you are harbouring dreams of fairytales coming true and wondering when your prince charming is on his way and when, as in the fairytale Rapunzel, he will latch onto your golden mane and climb up to rescue you. But if it looks like a toad, and talks like a toad, it is a toad.

Recommended for light reading.