Burnt Sugar (Avni Doshi)

I would be lying if I say my mothers misery has never given me pleasure, says Antara, Taras now-adult daughter.
In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her marriage to join an ashram, and while Tara is busy as a partner to the ashrams spiritual leader, Baba, little Antara is cared for by an older devotee, Kali Mata, an American who came to the ashram after a devastating loss. Tara also embarks on a stint as a beggar (mostly to spite her affluent parents) and spends years chasing a disheveled, homeless artist, all with young Antara in tow. But now Tara is forgetting things, and Antara is an adultan artist and marriedand must search for a way to make peace with a past that haunts her as she confronts the task of caring for a woman who never cared for her.

Sharp as a blade and laced with caustic wit,Burnt Sugarunpicks the slippery, choking cord of memory and myth that binds mother and daughter. Is Taras memory loss real? Are Antaras memories fair? In vivid and visceral prose, Tibor Jones South Asia Prizewinning writer Avni Doshi tells a story, at once shocking and empathetic, about love and betrayal between a mother and a daughter. A journey into shifting memories, altering identities, and the subjective nature of truth,Burnt Sugaris a stunning and unforgettable debut.