Indian origin author Avni Doshi’s debut novel, published in London as ‘Burn Sugar’ and in India as ‘Girl in White Cotton’, has been shortlisted for the 2020 Man Booker Prize for Literature. The novel is her first published work which in itself speaks of – why it’s worth reading.
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 is published in India by Fourth Estate under the title Girl in White Cotton.
Though Avni Doshi was born in New Jersey in 1982 and is currently based in Dubai, her roots originated in India being the novel is set in Pune. She won the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize in 2013 and a Charles Pick Fellowship at the University of East Anglia in 2014. The debut novel ‘Burnt Sugar’ is astounding and startling, the Booker website outlined it as “a love story and a story about betrayal… sharp as a blade and laced with caustic wit.”
One will not be able to keep the book down as it progresses, it makes the reader intriguing and uncomfortable. The prose is rich in its economy and explores the mother-daughter relationship. Doshi’s novel is a complete emotional wrapper.
The five other books in the shortlist are This Mournable Body by Taitsi Dangarembga (Faber & Faber), The New Wilderness by Diane Cook (Oneworld Publications), Shuggie Bain By Douglas Stuart (Pan Macmillan), The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste (Canongate Books), and Real Life By Brandon Taylor (Daunt Books Publishing).
The list was chosen from the bakers’ dozen 13 longlists. The winner will be announced in early November.