NO SPACE FOR FURTHER BURIALS
Feryal Ali Gauhar
Set in Afghanistan in late 2002, No Space for Further Burials is a chilling indictment of the madness of war and our collective complicity in the perpetuation of violence. The novel's narrator, a US Army medical technician in Afghanistan helping to "liberate" the country from the Taliban, has been captured by rebels and thrown into an asylum. The other inmates are a besieged gathering of society's forgotten and unwanted refugees and derelicts, disabled and different, resilient and maddened, struggling to survive the lunacy raging outside the asylum compound. The novel becomes a powerful evocation of the country's desolate history of plunder and war, waged by insiders and outsiders, all fueled by ideology, desperation, and greed.
This astonishingly powerful story unfolds the tragedy of Afghanistan, as told by the captive narrator in hauntingly beautiful prose. While the characters try to cope with their individual destinies, the terrible madness of war is counterpointed with the poignancy of their lives and the narrator's own peculiar predicament—the "victor" now a victim, his ambivalence a metaphor for everything Afghanistan symbolizes.
Akashic Books, paperback, 9781936070602
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IN THE LAP OF THE GODS
Li Miao Lovett
A dam rises on the Yangtze, uprooting a million lives in a government-made, modern environmental and human rights disaster, and a poor salvager who has lost everything finds an abandoned baby girl. A tale of defiance, of a lost man finding his place—and a new kind of love—in modern China, and of a rich man reclaiming his soul and the woman he loved before the revolution tore them apart.
The effects of modernization and the battle between man and nature are the heavy themes Lovett tackles in this powerful first novel set in modern-day China…. A moving, compelling read about people fighting against both government and nature, which prove equally insurmountable and capricious. —Booklist, starred review.
Leapfrog Press, paperback, 9781935248132
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CHILDREN OF A BETTER GOD
Susmita Bagchi
Translated by Bikram K. Das
When Anupurba comes back to India from the United States, reluctantly leaving behind a satisfying job as an art teacher, she does so with a sense of apprehension at this displacement from her comfortable, suburban American life. She never imagines that returning to India would turn out to be a profoundly transformational and life-changing decision. A chance meeting with an old college friend introduces her to Asha Jyoti, a school for children suffering from cerebral palsy. Overcoming her initial trepidation, she agrees to volunteer as a temporary art teacher. Anupurba teaches the children how to draw and paint but it is the children who teach her the real lessons—about suffering and survival, joyous friendship, love and laughter.
Children of a Better God is a deeply touching, tenderly written story about the agonizing challenges faced by children who have to live with lifelong disability, and the ways in which these very special children can powerfully enrich our lives with their grit, positive spirit and sheer courage.
Penguin India, paperback, 9780143066422
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A CYCLE OF THE MOON
Uma Parameswaran
It was a tense autumn the year Mayura came away from her husband saying she was never ever returning to that uncouth, lustful monster. Everyone in the family was affected by her presence to a greater extent than they had thought likely. A sense of collective guilt emasculated the men even while they lectured her on the moral duty of returning to her wedded husband. A sense of outrage mingled inexplicably with a sense of secret sorrow alienated women from themselves and from each other. No one knew what to make of her or of themselves. And meanwhile, she moved as though nothing, nobody, could touch her. And those who thought they had, retreated, scorched.
Using a deceptively simple and intimate style, Parameswaran explores the subtleties of love, marriage, sex, and family life in a changing Indian environment.
Tsar Publications (CAN), paperback, 9781894770620
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LIPSTICK IN AFGHANISTAN
Roberta Gately
Gripped by haunting magazine images of starving refugees, Elsa has dreamed of becoming a nurse since she was a teenager. No one in her family has ever escaped poverty, but Elsa has a secret weapon: a tube of lipstick she found in her older sister's bureau. Wearing it never fails to raise her spirits and cement her determination. With lipstick on, she can do anything—even travel alone to war-torn Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11.
But violent nights as an ER nurse in South Boston could not prepare Elsa for the devastation she witnesses at the small medical clinic she runs in Bamiyan. Then, a tube of lipstick she finds in the aftermath of a tragic bus bombing leads her to another life-changing friendship. In her neighbor Parween, Elsa finds a kindred spirit, fiery and generous. Together, the two women risk their lives to save friends and family from the worst excesses of the Taliban. But when the war waging around them threatens their own survival, Elsa discovers her only hope is to unveil the warrior within. Roberta Gately's raw, intimate novel is an unforgettable tribute to the power of friendship and a poignant reminder of the tragic cost of war.
A nurse, humanitarian aid worker, and writer, Roberta Gately has served in third-world war zones ranging from Africa to Afghanistan. She has written extensively on the subject of refugees for the Journal of Emergency Nursing, as well as a series of articles for the BBC World News Online. This is her first novel.
Gallery, paperback, 9781439191385 (December)
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SONGS OF BLOOD AND SWORD: A DAUGHTER'S MEMOIR
Fatima Bhutto
In September 1996, fourteen-year-old Fatima Bhutto hid in a windowless dressing room, shielding her baby brother, while shots rang out in the dark outside the family home in Karachi. This was the night her father Murtaza was murdered. It was the latest in a long line of tragedies for one of the world's best-known political dynasties.
Songs of Blood and Sword tells the story of a family of feudal landlords who became powerbrokers. It is an epic tale of intrigue, the making of modern Pakistan, and ultimately, tragedy. A searing testament to a troubled land, Songs of Blood and Sword reveals a daughter's love for her father and her search to uncover the truth of his life and death.
Fatima Bhutto studied at Columbia University and the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. An acclaimed poet and journalist, she currently writes columns for the Daily Beast, New Statesman, and other publications. She lives in Karachi.
Jonathan Cape, hardcover, 9780224087537 Nation Books, hardcover, 9781568586328
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TWO VIRGINS
Kamala Markandaya
Saroja lives in a village with her parents, aunt and beautiful elder sister Lalitha. Saroja's life is uncomplicated, and simple things give her joy like the birth of a calf or a taste of one of Chingleput's sweets. Lalitha, on the other hand, believes she is too good for the village. Ambitious and spoilt, she has dreams of being a movie star that are fulfilled when a film-maker casts her in his documentary on village life. Overnight Lalitha becomes the talk of the town; her latent sexuality manifests itself and she uses her elevated status to her advantage. Basking in Lalitha's reflected glory Saroja tries to imitate her womanly wiles, which results in confused ideas about sexuality and ambition. But when the family is faced with a scandal, Saroja emerges with a practical outlook on life.
Penguin India, paperback, 9780143102496
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