Dur e Aziz Amna
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Winner of the Stanfords Prize for Fiction
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Nota Bene Prize shortlist
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BBC Book Club pick
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'A blistering portrayal of a woman unwilling to accept life’s unfairness' — Sunday Times
'A superb second novel' —The Guardian
'A bleak and gritty shock of a novel, gripping to the end' — The Daily Mail
'Amna’s work stands out in the South Asian literary landscape' — Dawn
'A fierce, unflinching portrait of class, ambition, and a woman pushed to the edge' — Service95
'A riveting, unsparing story' — Irish Times
In a village in rural Pakistan, Tara is waiting and watching. The smell of dung and dust hangs over her world. She is desperate to leave the petty life of the village and escape the iron grip of her violent, unpredictable brother. Marrying a middle-class accountant allows her to escape to the capital, but she soon finds that life as a respectable housewife is not sufficient either. She wants what the rich mothers at her children’s school have. She wants what their husbands have. Her desire for wealth and freedom becomes an obsession. But can she truly shake her past? And what of the menacing spectre of her brother, a reminder of the threads that tie her to the life she left behind?
Set against a hypnotic, oppressive backdrop of political violence and natural disaster, A Splintering traces the class struggle of a woman stuck between province and metropolis, between motherhood and ambition. Disquieting and utterly gripping, it is an extraordinary achievement by Dur e Aziz Amna, an exploration of a complex and unforgettable character who will risk everything to carve out a life of her own.