Synopses & Reviews
From the award-winning, nationally bestselling author of A Golden Age and The Good Muslim comes a lyrical, deeply moving modern love story about belonging, migration, tragedy, survival, and the mysteries of origins.
On
the eve of her departure to find the bones of the walking whale—the
fossil that provides a missing link in our evolution—Zubaida Haque falls
in love with Elijah Strong, a man she meets in a darkened concert hall
in Boston. Their connection is immediate and intense, despite their
differences: Elijah belongs to a prototypical American family; Zubaida
is the adopted daughter of a wealthy Bangladeshi family in Dhaka. When a
twist of fate sends her back to her hometown, the inevitable force of
society compels her to take a very different path: she marries her
childhood best friend and settles into a traditional Bangladeshi life.
While
her family is pleased by her obedience, Zubaida seethes with
discontent. Desperate to finally free herself from her familial
constraints, she moves to Chittagong to work on a documentary film about
the infamous beaches where ships are destroyed, and their remains
salvaged by locals who depend on the goods for their survival. Among
them is Anwar, a shipbreaker whose story holds a key that will unlock
the mysteries of Zubaida’s past—and the possibilities of a new life. As
she witnesses a ship being torn down to its bones, this woman torn
between the social mores of her two homes—Bangladesh and America—will be
forced to strip away the vestiges of her own life . . . and make a
choice from which she can never turn back.
About the Author
Tahmima Anam is an anthropologist and a novelist. Her debut novel, A Golden Age,
was winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book.
In 2013, she was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. She
is a Contributing Opinion Writer for The New York Times and a
judge for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she was
educated at Mount Holyoke College and Harvard University and now lives
in Hackney, East London.