A Splintering

'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 Home Fire

WINNER OF THE STANFORDS FICTION AWARD 2026

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NOTA BENE PRIZE 2026

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An unforgettable story of motherhood, obsession and ambition

In a dusty village in rural Pakistan, Tara is waiting and watching. She is desperate to leave her small-town life of the village and flee the iron grip of her violent, unpredictable brother. Marriage takes her to the city, but respectability proves to be just another kind of cage.

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. Even as Tara acquires wealth, her hunger grows for a different life - one of power, possibility and freedom. What limits will she breach for that life? How far will she trangress? 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 get what she wants.