Bright Lines
A Novel
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- €12.99
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- €12.99
Publisher Description
Named a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Brooklyn Eagles Literary Prize, and the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award
ONE OF THE CUT’S 13 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS CELEBRATING PRIDE MONTH
“A Brooklyn-by-way-of-Bangladesh Royal Tenenbaums.”—The Denver Post
A vibrant debut novel, set in Brooklyn and Bangladesh, follows three young women and one family struggling to make peace with secrets and their past
For as long as she can remember, Ella has longed to feel at home. Orphaned as a child after her parents’ murder, and afflicted with hallucinations at dusk, she’s always felt more at ease in nature than with people. She traveled from Bangladesh to Brooklyn to live with the Saleems: her uncle Anwar, aunt Hashi, and their beautiful daughter, Charu, her complete opposite. One summer, when Ella returns home from college, she discovers Charu’s friend Maya—an Islamic cleric’s runaway daughter—asleep in her bedroom.
As the girls have a summer of clandestine adventure and sexual awakenings, Anwar—owner of a popular botanical apothecary—has his own secrets, threatening his thirty-year marriage. But when tragedy strikes, the Saleems find themselves blamed. To keep his family from unraveling, Anwar takes them on a fated trip to Bangladesh, to reckon with the past, their extended family, and each other.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Three Brooklyn girls grapple with their Bangladeshi roots and modern sexual challenges in Islam's debut novel. Ella, orphaned by her parents' murder, lives with her aunt Hashi and uncle Anwar, serving the role of an honorary daughter; further complicating the family dynamics is her suppressed romantic love for their daughter, her cousin Charu. The family also welcomes Maya, the daughter of an Islamic cleric, who has run away from her father's oppressive household. When the family travels to Bangladesh in an effort to restore their bond, they find answers but also tragedy. Too often, the narrative is distracted by Anwar's many spiritual and sensual conflicts, including his brother's unresolved murder. But Islam depicts lush Bangladesh and a gritty Brooklyn very well, and she's at her strongest when following the free-spirited young women. The characters' halfhearted feelings toward their Muslim identities provide an original and intriguing backdrop for their misadventures.
