1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
A01=Farah Ali
Age Group_Uncategorized
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Author_Farah Ali
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Category1=Fiction
Category=FA
Category=FS
Category=FXD
climate change
climate crisis
coming of age
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
divorce
drought
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
family
fiction
gap
intimate portrait
Language_English
love across age gaps
marriage
memory
mothers and sons
novel
ostracization
PA=Available
Pakistan
poverty
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
relationships
rotating perspectives
second love
softlaunch
South Asia
spare prose
urbanization
Product details
- ISBN 9781950539888
- Publication Date: 30 Nov 2023
- Publisher: Dzanc Books
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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“A deep and powerful work of literary climate fiction” —Independent Book Review
A poignant and powerful first novel following the breakup of a Pakistani family in the face of climate disaster, and their indefatigable search for stability, love, and belonging.In the rural town in Pakistan where Baadal grows up, children are named like talismans to sustain life and ward off unhappiness. At seventeen, Baadal has come to understand why his parents gave him that name, with hopes that their Big River will one day flow wide again, and their thirst will be quenched after years of drought. But in the final year of his schooling, abundance seems impossibly far away. As his parents’ marriage—full of rage, despair, and often violence—reaches a breaking point, the only comfort Baadal can afford is a budding kinship with Meena, a divorced older woman he meets on the banks of the drying river.
Meena has only just escaped her abusive husband, but her resistance to remarry soon gives way to the promise of stability and companionship that Baadal offers. Together, they leave the Town in search of greater fortunes in the City. But even strong-willed, independent Meena finds herself bowed by the strain of Badaal’s punishing work schedule, her struggling beauty parlor, and the tension with Baadal’s mother, Raheela, who fights for control of her son as she seeks to leave behind a life of disappointments and discover a freedom she’s never known.
Told in rotating perspectives spanning from 1966 to 1998, The River, The Town is an intimate portrait of a family unraveling in the throes of indigence, and a tribute to the wounded love that keeps them tethered to each other. With stark and candid prose, Farah Ali traces one family’s fortunes to illuminate the relentless cycle of inequity, juxtaposing the tragic and grueling realities of poverty with the enduring struggle for compassion and humanity.
Farah Ali grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, and currently lives in London. Her work has been anthologized in the 2020 Pushcart Prize and received special mention in the 2018 Pushcart anthology. Her debut story collection People Want to Live published with McSweeney's Books, and includes new stories and some previously published in VQR, Shenandoah, The Arkansas International, MQR, The Southern Review, Kenyon Review, Copper Nickel, and others.
