Home of the Floating Lily
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- € 8,99
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- € 8,99
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2021 DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD — RUNNER-UP
Caught between cultures, immigrant families from a Bengali neighbourhood in Toronto strive to navigate their home, relationships, and happiness.
Set in both Canada and Bangladesh, the eight stories in Home of the Floating Lily follow the lives of everyday people as they navigate the complexities of migration, displacement, love, friendship, and familial conflict. A young woman moves to Toronto after getting married but soon discovers her husband is not who she believes him to be. A mother reconciles her heartbreak when her sons defy her expectations and choose their own paths in life. A lonely international student returns to Bangladesh and forms an unexpected bond with her domestic helper. A working-class woman, caught between her love for Bangladesh and her determination to raise her daughter in Canada, makes a life-altering decision after a dark secret from the past is revealed.
In each of the stories, characters embark on difficult journeys in search of love, dignity, and a sense of belonging.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Abdullah's well-crafted debut collection explores the lives of Bangladeshi immigrants in Toronto. "A Good Family" depicts the changes in a friendship forged between older, divorced Rubina and neighbor Shumi, recently married and relocated to the "Little Bangladesh" section of the city from Dhaka. There, neighbors gossip about Rubina, who is trying to find a husband for her daughter and teach Shumi to cook with Rubina's family's recipes. In "A Secret Affair," a widower receives weekly calls from his former sister-in-law berating him for his new marriage, just months after her sister's death. In "Across the Ocean," 20-something Reema is back home visiting her aunt in Dhaka after a year studying in Toronto. Nearing 60, Aunty has ruthlessly run her household after her husband's death and her son and his wife moved to the U.S., and now hires and fires a new maid every few months. Reema is soothed by teenage maid Amina, who reminds her of her late mother's tenderness, and is dismayed to learn her aunt has slapped Amina. Throughout, Abdullah writes with poignancy and subtlety about her characters' self-discovery as they seek a sense of home amid turbulence and change. This is worth a look.
