A Splintering: An unforgettable story of motherhood, obsession and ambition

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'Smart and gripping - I read it in one sitting. Tara is a glorious creation, crackling with life and aspiration and sensuality' Kamila Shamsie, author ofHome Fire

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 Splinteringtraces 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.

Reviews

'A riveting read that boldly calls out patriarchy in Pakistan and beyond'Mohammed Hanif, author of Red Birds

'An intoxicating, high-voltage mix of female rage, economic ambition, erotic awakening, and biting disdain aimed at the expectations faced by women in contemporary Pakistani society, Tara's voice will sear itself in your consciousness like the scowl of a convict facing the firing squad. Never have my sympathies been so roused, tested, and provoked by a character both heroic and tragic, wily and cornered, raw and charred... a magnificent sophomore novel, replete with Amna's trademark lyricism and sparkling wit' Aube Rey Lescure, author of River East, River West

Smart and gripping I read it in one sitting. Tara is a glorious creation, crackling with life and aspiration and sensuality Kamila Shamsie, author of Best of Friends

'A lacerating novel by a writer of great insight and deep compassion'Mohsin Hamid, author ofThe Last White Man

'A Splintering is the dizzying kind of novel that puts every part of your brain in competition with the rest. Its a page-turner, its a vivid chronicle of family life, its an intimate exploration of selfhood. And more than anything its an examination of the structures society builds up around us. In harrowing detail, Amna shows us how those forces - tradition, patriarchy, capitalism - deform and fracture our inner lives so profoundly that imagination becomes as much a prison as it is a key. Im in awe of this book'Chris Knapp, author of States of Emergency

A gripping, troubling, masterful story. I could not put it down Ayegl Sava, author of The Anthropologists

Author Bio

Dur e Aziz Amna is from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and now lives in Newark, USA. Her debut novel,American Fever, was published in 2023 and won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and the South Asia Book Award. Her work also appears in theNew York Times,Financial Times, andAl Jazeera, among others. She was selected as Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2022, and won the 2019 Financial Times / Bodley Head Essay Prize. She is a graduate of Yale College and the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan.