Spotlight Six | Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree | International Booker Prize Winner

“A border does not enclose, it opens out... A border is a horizon. Where two worlds meet. And embrace.”

The first Hindi novel to win the International Booker Prize, now translated to English for the first time, Tomb of Sand is a sweeping exploration of life, friendship, family, and culture you’ll never forget. Ma’s journey of rebellion–changing her clothes, befriending a trans woman, opening her home to strangers, and finally traveling to Pakistan to face her past–will charm and engage you, while the playful, inventive narration makes following her story a delight.

“A tale tells itself. It can be complete, but also incomplete, the way all tales are.”

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Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree

Paperback £12.00

Blurb:

An eighty-year-old woman slips into a deep depression at the death of her husband, then resurfaces to gain a new lease on life. Her determination to fly in the face of convention – including striking up a friendship with a hijra (trans) woman – confuses her bohemian daughter, who is used to thinking of herself as the more 'modern' of the two.

At the older woman's insistence they travel back to Pakistan, simultaneously confronting the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition, and re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman, a feminist.

Rather than respond to tragedy with seriousness, Geetanjali Shree's playful tone and exuberant wordplay results in a book that is engaging, funny, and utterly original, at the same time as being an urgent and timely protest against the destructive impact of borders and boundaries, whether between religions, countries, or genders.

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