When We Were Sisters

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2022WINNER OF THE CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023'[A] captivating, gorgeously written book' Hala Alyan'A stunning accomplishment' Safia Elhillo'A grief-soaked and gorgeous debut novel . . . A poet first, Asghar picks up on the themes of her debut collection If They Come for Us - partition and fragmentation, borders and bodies - and plays with space and silence on the page . . . this fragmentary form has the effect of ephemerality - much like life' Sana Goyal, GuardianIn this heartrending, lyrical debut work of fiction, Fatimah Asghar traces the intense bond of three orphaned siblings who, after their parents die, are left to raise one another. The youngest, Kausar, grapples with the incomprehensible loss of her parents as she also charts out her own understanding of gender, Aisha, the middle sister, spars with her 'crybaby' younger sibling as she desperately tries to hold on to her sense of family in an impossible situation,...