Tahmima's new novel 'The Bones of Grace' hits stand
Best-selling, award-winning author Tahmima Anam's third novel "The Bones of Grace", the last of Anam's trilogy on the Haque family, came out in the UK on May 19, 2016, published by Canongate Books.
The US edition of the book, published by HarperCollins, will be available in the market in June, says a press release from London, by HarperCollins.
Unlike the first two books of the series "A Golden Age" and "The Good Muslim", which are mostly set in Tahmima's home country Bangladesh, "The Bones of Grace" begins at Cambridge, Massachusetts. It tells the story of US-educated palaeontologist Zubaida Haque whose research interest in ancient whales brings her back to her homeland, Bangladesh, and subsequently she sets off on a journey to find her personal roots.
Anam in her debut novel, "A Golden Age", published in 2007, set out to chronicle three generations of the Haque family from Bangladesh's War of Independence to the present day. "A Golden Age", which begins in the late 1950s and describes the Liberation War, won Anam a devoted global readership as well as the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best First Book.
Its sequel, "The Good Muslim", was long-listed for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. The time period of "The Good Muslim", where the characters of "A Golden Age" grow up, portrays the 1980s Bangladesh.
"The Bones of Grace" is tied to these earlier books, yet it is distinctive and complete, describing the country's contemporary realities through a lyrical, deeply moving, modern love story about belonging, migration, tragedy, survival, and the mysteries of origins.
Kirkus Reviews, one of the most acclaimed international book review magazines, said, “Anam's story resonates powerfully within the saga of three generations of women, personifying Bangladesh's evolution from the clarity of revolution to the confusions of assimilation with the larger world.”
Prominent authors also lauded Anam's new book. Kamila Shamsie, author of "Burnt Shadows", said about the book, "A novel of heart, brain, and muscle - the competing pulls of history and love are evoked here with a rare honesty, and great skill.”
“Fierce and intimate, lyrical and expansive, 'The Bones of Grace' offers what a great novel does: symphonic movements, historical landscapes that shape our private landscapes of love and life, mysteries and enchantments, the unforgettable and the unforgotten. Tahmima Anam is a mesmerizer," said Yiyun Li, PEN/Hemingway-winning author of "Kinder than Solitude" and "The Vagrants".
Readers will be able to enjoy the book, even without reading the prequels, by stepping in the world of Zubaida where the plight of labourers entrapped in servitude in Dubai or in the hazardous work of ship-breaking in Bangladesh is depicted beautifully along with the pangs of individual and national identity.
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