'The Hardest Part Was Writing Alone': Booker Nominee Avni Doshi On Her First Novel That Took 7 Years

Indian-origin writer Avni Doshi's first novel, Burnt Sugar, will be published internationally today. As the narrative of Burnt Sugar darts back and forth, time and memory become central themes in Doshi's book, and her characters carry the essence of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's characters, who often walk through their present-day mundaneness, with their eyes in the past. Doshi chose the tense and the point of view of her novel wisely while writing its third draft and Antara's voice became the thread that carries the story forward. Antara's voice sets the tone right from the very beginning, and summarizes her entire existential turmoil in the first sentence of the book, "I would be lying if I said that my mother's misery has never given me pleasure."