Lit in Translation

Tomb of Sand

रेत समाधि · Ret Samadhi

Geetanjali Shree (गीतांजलि श्री, born 1957)

Translated by Daisy Rockwell

English editions

In English

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A widow nearing eighty lies down on her cot, faces the wall and will not get up, while her large household, a joint family full of affection, feuds and endless squabbles, tries to coax her back. When she does rise, she is reborn: a fresh childhood and girlhood, free of the restrictions society placed on her, fearless in new friendships and moods. The book keeps stepping over boundaries, those between the sexes, the generations, flesh and spirit, the big family and the small one, India and Pakistan, people and other creatures, and now and then lets a crow, a butterfly, a road or an old family door tell the tale. At the Wagah border, each evening's nationalist ceremony carries echoes of old massacres.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form
Novel
Genres
Family (assigned by AI)
Set in
India, Pakistan
First published
2018 by Rajkamal Prakashan
Author's age
61 when first published
ISBN

9781911284611 (Tilted Axis Press, United Kingdom)

9780063299405 (HarperVia, United States)

9780063299412 (HarperVia, United States)

More
Wikidata