Burnt Sugar

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021

WINNER OF THE SUSHILA DEVI AWARD 2021

A searing debut novel about mothers and daughters, obsession and betrayal – for fans of Jenny Offill, Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk and Diana Evans

‘Beautifully written, emotionally wrenching and poignant in equal measure’ The Booker Prize Judges 2020

‘An unsettling, sinewy debut, startling in its venom and disarming in its humour from the very first sentence’ Guardian

‘I would be lying if I said my mother’s misery has never given me pleasure.’

This is a tale of obsession and betrayal. This is a poisoned love story. But not between lovers – between mother and daughter.

Tara and Antara, the woman and her angry shadow. But which one is which?

Sharp as a blade and compulsively readable, Burnt Sugar slowly untangles the knot of memory and fiction that binds two women together, revealing the truth that lies beneath.

‘A work of extraordinary insight, courage and sophistication’ Washington Post

‘Arresting and fiercely intelligent, disarmingly witty and frank’ Sunday Times

‘A sly, slippery, often heartbreaking novel about the role memory plays within families’ Stylist

‘Extraordinary… Come for the effortlessly stylish writing, stay for the boiling wrath’ Observer