'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, author of Normal People
A Times Best Paperback of the Year Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction Longlisted for the William Hill Award A BBC Arts & The Reading Agency's Big Sporting Read selection Selected by Dua Lipa as one of Service95's 'Books of the Year'
A deeply moving novel about grief, sisterhood and a teenage girl's struggle to transcend herself.
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.
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.
An unforgettable coming-of-age story, Chetna Maroo’s Western Lane is an exploration of the closeness of sisterhood, the immigrant experience, and the collective overcoming of grief.
A 'Book of the Year' in The Economist, The Independent, The Week, TheNew York Times and The Guardian
'With this gorgeous debut, Maroo blows most of the competition off the court.' – The Times
