‘A beautiful and evocative novel about grief, about growing up, about losing and winning. The people and places in this book will stay with me for a long time.’ – Sally Rooney<\/p>\n
A ‘Book of the Year’ in The Economist<\/i>, The Independent<\/i>, The Week<\/i>, The<\/i> New York Times<\/i> and The Guardian<\/i><\/p>\n
A deeply moving novel about grief, sisterhood, squash and a teenage girl’s struggle to transcend herself.<\/b><\/p>\n
Eleven-year-old Gopi has been playing squash since she was old enough to hold a racket. When her mother dies, her father enlists her in a quietly brutal training regimen, and the game becomes her world. Slowly, she grows apart from her sisters. Her life is reduced to the sport, guided by its rhythms: the serve, the volley, the drive, the shot and its echo.<\/p>\n
But on the court, she is not alone. She is with her pa. She is with Ged, a thirteen-year-old boy with his own formidable talent. She is with the players who have come before her. She is in awe.<\/p>\n
An unforgettable coming-of-age story, Chetna Maroo’s first novel is a moving exploration of the closeness of sisterhood, the immigrant experience, and the collective overcoming of grief.<\/b><\/p>\n
‘With this gorgeous debut, Maroo blows most of the competition off the court.’ – The Times<\/i><\/p>\n
‘Stunning . . . Spare, tender, brilliantly achieved . . . A novel that unfolds in silences . . . and dares to leave much unsaid.’ – The Guardian<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A deeply moving exploration of an immigrant father’s attempts to raise his family as a single parent, while consumed by his own grief and loss and struggling to recognize those of his children too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[68],"product_tag":[127,24435],"class_list":{"0":"post-103161","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","5":"product_cat-general-fiction","6":"product_tag-modern-contemporary-fiction-post-c-1945","7":"product_tag-squash-rackets","8":"pa_book_author-maroo-chetna","9":"pa_cover-paperback","10":"pa_dewey-823-92-edition23","11":"pa_edition-1st-paperback-ed","12":"pa_imprint-picador","13":"pa_language-english","14":"pa_pages-8348","15":"pa_publisher-picador","16":"pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","18":"first","19":"onbackorder","20":"taxable","21":"shipping-taxable","22":"purchasable","23":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n