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 PeopleA Times Best Paperback of the YearShortlisted for the Booker PrizeLonglisted for the Women's Prize for FictionLonglisted for the William Hill AwardA BBC Arts & The Reading Agency's Big Sporting Read selectionSelected 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, The New York Times and The Guardian'With this gorgeous debut, Maroo blows most of the competition off the court.' - The Times'Stunning . . . Spare, tender, brilliantly achieved' - The Guardian
