With an elegance and fluidity of prose rare in first novels, Canadian writer Nawaz presents a masterful examination of the ties that bind people together and the quiet endurance required for sustaining those bonds through the countless travails of life and death. Beena remains bereaved, but she is attempting to preserve the burgeoning relationships that have allowed her to cope with the death of her sister, Sadhana. In the wake of this tragedy, Beena reflects on their childhood together after the death of their parents, remembering the tumultuous nature of their sisterhood and the many struggles that led to their final fight. Mingled grief and guilt lead Beena to return to her sister's Montreal apartment to investigate what exactly went on during Sadhana's last days and uncover the truth behind her death. Poignant, engrossing, and tender, Nawaz's work explores the lifelong attempt to protect those we love and how we learn to rally for those dear to us.--Brown, Caitlin Copyright 2016 Booklist

Two sistersclose when they were children but divided by pain and problems as they grew into adulthoodhave struggled ceaselessly with the bonds that connect them. Theres no shortage of issues in Canadian writer Nawazs (Mother Superior, 2008) first full-length work of fiction. Race, illegal immigration, anorexia, and single parenting are just some of the lesser tributaries swelling the main storytelling flow, devoted to the complicated relationship between sisters Beena and Sadhana Singh. Born of a Punjabi Sikh father and an Irish-born American mother, the girls live over the family businessa bagel shopin Montreal. Their fathers sudden death is followed by an arson attack on the building that engenders anxiety issues in younger sister Sadhana. Then their mother dies as the result of a celebratory meal prepared by the girls. Now, under the not-so-tender care of an uncle, the teenagers begin to go off the rails: 14-year-old Sadhana develops a life-threatening eating disorder while Beena, at 16, gets pregnant. Packed full of both content and introspective narration, the novel is ponderous and often downbeat, shuttling back and forth between the girls pasts and Beenas present as she copes with the aftermath of Sadhanas death, announced on the first page, for which her son, Quinn, blames her. As Beena sets about the sad business of sorting through her sisters possessions, additional plot points emerge involving Quinn, the father hes never known, and the fight to protect an immigrant family Sadhana was helping. Nawaz brings serious commitment to her ambitiously large tale, but its sluggishness and cast of cool characters work against the readers involvement, while the prose, often awkwardly intenseMore and more, regret has simply become the shadow I would cast if I stood in the sunsometimes makes matters worse. An overload of materialand pagesobscures the sincere heart of this earnest story. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Nawaz's well-crafted debut novel is a somber tale of hidden secrets, separated sisters, and family stories that, when left unspoken, can eat a person from the inside out. Orphaned at a young age, sisters Beena and Sadhana Singh build their adult lives between Ottawa and Montreal, but Beena spends year after year watching Sadhana "disappear, little by little." After a lifelong struggle with an eating disorder, Sadhana dies of a heart attack at the age of 32. Beena, a single mother, is left alone to wrestle with her grief, as well as the secrets of her son Quinn's parentage of Sadhana's lover. The story is told in alternating timelines-shifting between the months directly following Sadhana's death and the years leading up to it, until the two converge, and Beena learns the truth about her sister's death. The novel's great strength is Nawaz's depiction of the sisters' relationship. In poignant but never flowery prose, she is able to portray the depth of a familial bond with accuracy and empathy. The relationship is not one of uncomplicated devotion but peppered with the jealousy, competition, and frustration that are so recognizable as ingredients in the love between siblings. Agent: Martha Magor Webb, The McDermid Agency. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.