This paper traces Leila Ahmed's remembrance in A Border Passage; a memoir
recollecting her family home as a space haunted by sounds and shadows, and imbued
by a lyrical tone. The memoirs explore the motif of loss as experienced by the text's
female protagonist; unexpectedly missing the harem lifestyle she grew up to cherish.
The recollections celebrate harem as home, bonding women together; a place of
respite and sanctuary without which loneliness and insecurity prevail. The memoirs
are, thus, written as a form of healing. The protagonist oscillates between the sense of
loneliness and molestation in her father's house; a symbol of the absence of human
bondage, and her mother's family home; a place of female solidarity and a benign
rhythmic lifestyle. As such, the memoirs are a counter narrative to harem life as
oppressive and reductive, to one that is empowering and sustaining; a means to fend
off paternal tyranny and celebrate maternal bondage. Such ideas run counter to
Western feminist discourse, opting for Eastern concepts like the harem lifestyle which
empowers women and their female bondage.