Titled after the Sia rose bush native to Siachen, An Abundance of Wild Roses bears testimony to Feryal Ali-Gauhar’s deep love and intimate understanding of nature in practically all its forms constituted within our understanding of the word. Located in a high-altitude, remote village Saudukh Das, in all likelihood, in cold and craggy Gilgit-Baltistan in the Karakoram Range, popularly known as Black Mountains and in the perilous Siachen glacier above, the novel offers at a basic level an opportunity to witness life as it appears to ordinary human understanding.
However, because Ali-Gauhar continually juxtaposes or superimposes ordinary human existence with folklore, legend or myths that are central to these often-inaccessible regions of human and animal habitation, she interrogates or casts shadows over a casual acceptance of all that generally meets the eye. The novel is a doorway to the topography, climate, culture, living, and belief-systems prevailing in these mountainous regions.