Musharraf Ali Farooqi’s latest novel presents these extraordinary characters in the twilight of their lives. Their skills are no longer what they once were, new challengers to their eminence have risen, and the adoring crowds and followers are long gone. An immense catastrophe has laid waste to the country; its new inheritors have no time for the old ways. Stripped of their resources and their old powers, Ustad Ramzi and Gohar Jan must face their greatest challenge yet. Powerful and haunting, Between Clay and Dust is a triumph of storytelling and a poignant exploration of love, honour, redemption, and the strength that great souls find to go on when all is lost.
Available for the first time in Canada, Between Clay and Dust was a finalist for the Man Asian Literary Prize.
Musharraf Ali Farooqi is a novelist and translator. He was born in 1968 in Hyderabad, Pakistan, and now divides his time between Toronto and Karachi. Between Clay and Dust was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize and longlisted for the 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. He also writes children’s literature (including Pakistan’s first English-language novel for children) and critically acclaimed translations of Urdu classics.