Cover design by Holly Ovenden
BURNT SUGAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 BOOKER PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD
PICKED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY the Guardian, Economist, Spectator, NPR and more...
“Avni Doshi isn’t just a talented writer, she is an artist.” The New York Times
“Avni Doshi pursues this psychological dependency to depths few writers would be brave enough to fathom.” The Washington Post
"This has the heft and expansiveness of a classic 19th-century novel." Publishers Weekly
“A corrosive, compulsive debut.” Sunday Telegraph (*****)
“A landmark portrait of toxic parenting and its tangled aftermath.” Kirkus (starred review)
"Extraordinary. Exquisitely written, painfully exhilarating, impossible to put down... Come for the effortlessly stylish writing, stay for the boiling wrath.” Observer
“I would be lying if I said my mother’s misery has never given me pleasure.”
Avni Doshi was born in New Jersey and lives in Dubai. She has a BA in art history from Barnard College in New York and a Masters in history of art from University College London. She was awarded the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize in 2013 and a Charles Pick Fellowship in 2014. Her writing has appeared in British Vogue, Granta and The Sunday Times. Her first novel, Burnt Sugar, was originally released in India under the title Girl in White Cotton, where it won the 2021 Sushila Devi Award and was longlisted for the 2019 Tata First Novel Prize. Upon publication in the UK, Burnt Sugar was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. Named a 2020 Book of the Year by the Guardian, Economist, Spectator and NPR, it is being published in 26 languages. In 2021, it was longlisted for the Women’s Prize and selected as one of The New York Times Book Review’s 100 Notable Books of the year. In 2022, it was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Avni is currently working on her second book.