Burnt Sugar

Burnt Sugar

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2020

Summary


SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021

WINNER OF THE SUSHILA DEVI AWARD 2021

NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2021

A searing debut novel about mothers and daughters, obsession and betrayal - for fans of Jenny Offill, Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk and Diana Evans

'Beautifully written, emotionally wrenching and poignant in equal measure' The Booker Prize Judges 2020

'An unsettling, sinewy debut, startling in its venom and disarming in its humour from the very first sentence' Guardian

'I would be lying if I said my mother's misery has never given me pleasure.'

This is a tale of obsession and betrayal. This is a poisoned love story. But not between lovers - between mother and daughter.

Tara and Antara, a woman and her angry shadow. But which one is which?

Sharp as a blade and compulsively readable, Burnt Sugar slowly untangles the knot of memory and rumour that binds two women together, revealing the truth that lies beneath.

'A work of extraordinary insight, courage and sophistication' Washington Post

'Arresting and fiercely intelligent, disarmingly witty and frank' Sunday Times


'A sly, slippery, often heartbreaking novel about the role memory plays within families' Stylist

'Extraordinary... Come for the effortlessly stylish writing, stay for the boiling wrath' Observer

Reviews

  • An unsettling, sinewy debut, startling in its venom and disarming in its humour from the very first sentence
    Elle Hunt, Guardian

About the author

Avni Doshi

Avni Doshi was born in New Jersey in 1982 and is currently based in Dubai. She won the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize in 2013 and a Charles Pick Fellowship at the University of East Anglia in 2014. Her debut novel, Burnt Sugar, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2020. The novel is published in India as Girl in White Cotton, where it won the Sushila Devi Award 2021.
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