Sharp as a blade and laced with Avni Doshi’s caustic wit, this a story about love and betrayal. Not between lovers - between mother and daughter.

In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her loveless marriage to join an ashram, endured a brief stint as a beggar (mostly to spite her affluent parents), and spent years chasing after a dishevelled, homeless ‘artist’ - all with her young child in tow. Now she is forgetting things, mixing up her maid’s wages and leaving the gas on all night - and her grown-up daughter is faced with the task of caring for a woman who never cared for her.

Shortlisted
The 2020 Booker Prize
Published by
Hamish Hamilton
Publication date
Avni Doshi

Avni Doshi

About the Author

Avni Doshi was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020. She was born in New Jersey in 1982 and is currently based in Dubai.
More about Avni Doshi

Annie Mac on Avni Doshi's Burnt Sugar

Actor Ayesha Dharker reads from Burnt Sugar

 

Actor Ayesha Dharker performs a reading from 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted author Avni Doshi’s book, Burnt Sugar.

This was originally streamed during The Booker Prize 2020 winner ceremony.

Burnt Sugar

I suppose there is a parallel between the narrator’s preoccupation with Alzheimer’s and my own