The glow of my cigarette picks out a dark shape lying on the ground. I bend down to take a closer look. It’s a dead sparrow. I wondered if I had become that bird, disoriented and lost.’ Young, handsome and contemptuous of his father’s traditional ways, PK Malik leaves Bombay to start a new life in America. Stopping in Manchester to visit an old friend, he thinks he sees a business opportunity, and decides to stay on. Now fifty-five, PK has fallen out of love with life. His business is struggling and his wife Geeta is lonely, pining for the India she’s left behind. One day PK crosses the path of Esther, the wife of his business competitor, and they launch into an affair conducted in shabby hotel rooms, with the fear of discovery forever hanging in the air. Still Lives is a tightly woven, haunting work that pulls apart the threads of a family and plays with notions of identity. Shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize 'An expertly crafted novel, filled with light-touch prose and inhabitable scenes, threaded with compelling and believable dialogue. It’s a book you can lose yourself in, and I did.' Adam Farrer, author of Cold Fish Soup 'Through small moments and big changes Still Lives captures beautifully and painfully how it is to live across two countries, nowhere feeling quite like home.' Laura Besley, author of 100nehundred and The Almost Mothers 'Ruia’s extraordinary skill lies in capturing the landscape of diasporic lives… Still Lives is a heart-rending evocation of a life in crisis. This is your must-read book for the summer.' Selma Carvalho, Joao-Roque Literary Journal 'This book grabs you from the get-go. Compelling characters, fantastic prose, sexy, funny and wise.' Heidi James, author of The Sound Mirror and So the Doves 'This book had my attention from the first page. Stunning. Heartbreaking. And so very real.' Khurrum Rahman, author of East of Hounslow and Homegrown Hero 'Lyrical, funny and at times haunting, Still Lives is an urgent novel that deserves to be read widely. It had me reading well into the night. Beautiful!' Awais Khan, author of No Honour and In the Company of Strangers
This poetry collection explores the diasporic experience of leading a translated life, yearning to belong to a past that one no longer owns and a future that is murky and unclear. There is a sense of melancholic nostalgia in these poems but also a fierce kind of determination to embark on a new beginning and make the best of one's circumstances. The poems are particularly relevant to our times when there is a growing sense of parochialism and hostility towards 'the outsider.' They will resonate with all those who have portable roots and are at home everywhere and nowhere. The poems also portray the emotive minefield of relationships, questioning the ambiguity behind maternal or filial love. Society conditions us to love our parent or child or partner but my poems challenge this by describing the tug of war between a woman's sense of self and the roles she is expected to play. There is an undercurrent of mortality running through some of the poems. A sense of an ending and a reflection on what the passage of time can do to one's dreams and aspirations. * Comments by the judges of the Word Masala Debut Poet Award: There's a fierce energy in Reshma Ruia's poetry. Her incantatory and conversational tone belies her social and human concerns. Her rhythmic control is amazing, sustained in her assertive voice and language. This debut collection everyone should read--the sooner the better. Captivating! Cyril Dabydeen, a former Poet Laureate of Ottawa (1984-87) Reshma Ruia creates poignant vignettes of common folk dealing with the mundane business of life. Parmila Vankateswaran, a former poet laureate of Suffolk County, Long Island (2013-15) You will be pleased with discovering award-winning poet Reshma Ruia. Her voice is intimate and confident. Her poetry shines bright. Reshma lures the reader into her world through a vivid imagination. From the empty bed of an accountant to the code of 1947, Reshma's skill is in how she paints pictures with words, which become whole landscapes and scenes in one's imagination. I feel I am reading someone whom everyone will be reading in future. Read her now! Lemn Sissay MBE
Sensual and surprising stories that play a tantalising game of hide-and-seek with lies and truth. Chameleon-like characters slip in and out of shadows as they construct elaborate ruses and clutch at worlds that remain just out of reach. Their appetite for life is by turns bitter and sweet but never predictable. An old recipe, an outing, a robot, a key - clues to people they once were or hope to be.
Iyer Experiences And Depicts These Lonely Places With The Same Wit, Vitality And Insight That Distinguish His First Two Books And The Result Is A Memorable Gallery Of Countries Poignantly Isolated In Spirit And Time' San Francisco Examiner What Does The Elegant Nostalgia Of Argentina Have In Common With The Raffish Nonchalance Of Australia? And What Do Both These Countries Have In Common With North Korea? They Are All `Lonely Places' Cut Off From The Rest Of The World By Geography, Ideology Or Sheer Weirdness. And They Have All Attracted The Attention Of Pico Iyer. Whether He Is Documenting The Cruising Rites Of Icelandic Teenagers, Being Interrogated By Tipsy Cuban Police Or Summarizing The Plot Of Bhutan'S First Feature Film (`A $6500 Spectacular About A Star-Crossed Couple: She Dies, He Throws Himself On The Funeral Pyre, And Both Live Happily Ever After As An Ox And A Cow'), Iyer Is Always Uncannily Observant And Acerbically Funny.
The glow of my cigarette picks out a dark shape lying on the ground. I bend down to take a closer look. It’s a dead sparrow. I wondered if I had become that bird, disoriented and lost.’ Young, handsome and contemptuous of his father’s traditional ways, PK Malik leaves Bombay to start a new life in America. Stopping in Manchester to visit an old friend, he thinks he sees a business opportunity, and decides to stay on. Now fifty-five, PK has fallen out of love with life. His business is struggling and his wife Geeta is lonely, pining for the India she’s left behind. One day PK crosses the path of Esther, the wife of his business competitor, and they launch into an affair conducted in shabby hotel rooms, with the fear of discovery forever hanging in the air. Still Lives is a tightly woven, haunting work that pulls apart the threads of a family and plays with notions of identity. Shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize 'An expertly crafted novel, filled with light-touch prose and inhabitable scenes, threaded with compelling and believable dialogue. It’s a book you can lose yourself in, and I did.' Adam Farrer, author of Cold Fish Soup 'Through small moments and big changes Still Lives captures beautifully and painfully how it is to live across two countries, nowhere feeling quite like home.' Laura Besley, author of 100nehundred and The Almost Mothers 'Ruia’s extraordinary skill lies in capturing the landscape of diasporic lives… Still Lives is a heart-rending evocation of a life in crisis. This is your must-read book for the summer.' Selma Carvalho, Joao-Roque Literary Journal 'This book grabs you from the get-go. Compelling characters, fantastic prose, sexy, funny and wise.' Heidi James, author of The Sound Mirror and So the Doves 'This book had my attention from the first page. Stunning. Heartbreaking. And so very real.' Khurrum Rahman, author of East of Hounslow and Homegrown Hero 'Lyrical, funny and at times haunting, Still Lives is an urgent novel that deserves to be read widely. It had me reading well into the night. Beautiful!' Awais Khan, author of No Honour and In the Company of Strangers
Iyer Experiences And Depicts These Lonely Places With The Same Wit, Vitality And Insight That Distinguish His First Two Books And The Result Is A Memorable Gallery Of Countries Poignantly Isolated In Spirit And Time' San Francisco Examiner What Does The Elegant Nostalgia Of Argentina Have In Common With The Raffish Nonchalance Of Australia? And What Do Both These Countries Have In Common With North Korea? They Are All `Lonely Places' Cut Off From The Rest Of The World By Geography, Ideology Or Sheer Weirdness. And They Have All Attracted The Attention Of Pico Iyer. Whether He Is Documenting The Cruising Rites Of Icelandic Teenagers, Being Interrogated By Tipsy Cuban Police Or Summarizing The Plot Of Bhutan'S First Feature Film (`A $6500 Spectacular About A Star-Crossed Couple: She Dies, He Throws Himself On The Funeral Pyre, And Both Live Happily Ever After As An Ox And A Cow'), Iyer Is Always Uncannily Observant And Acerbically Funny.
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