About this Event
The debut authors Zahirra Dayal and Arathi Menon will discuss writing their evocative novels, set in Zimbabwe and India respectively. Copies of their moving novels will be available for sale (cash preferred but card possible!).
Da by Arathi Menon –
‘A beautifully cut gem of a novel. Ved’s unforgettable voice makes this story come to life in so many funny, moving and unexpected ways.’ - Mahesh Rao, Author of 'Half Light'.
This is a story of love between a father and a son.
Inquisitive 13-year-old Ved’s entire universe is his adoptive father, Da. From cooking him the perfect biryani, to helping him navigate his first school dance and his first girlfriend, Da lets Ved be himself.
Fiercely loving and fiercely protective, their relationship harbours a secret that could destroy them both: Da is gay at a time when Section 377, a colonial law, makes homosexuality a crime. Beyond the law, vigilante gangs prowl the shadows, targeting those they deem ‘unnatural’ as Da and Ved’s happy existence grows ever more fragile.
Set in an Indian metropolis in 2013, Da is a tender story of a boy caught between devotion and fear, chronicling the everyday courage it takes to love someone the world refuses to accept.
‘The Whispering Jacarandas’ by Zahirra Dayal –
The Whispering Jacarandas is a haunting debut that unfolds in the charged aftermath of Zimbabwe’s independence. In the leafy suburb of Belvedere, sisters Zaynah and Amira grow up within the shelter of a close-knit Indian community, until one night of violence shatters their childhood and drives an unspoken rift between them.
As the sisters navigate adolescence under the shadow of silence, their paths diverge: one drawn inward into secrecy, the other seeking escape in rebellion. Against a backdrop of political upheaval and simmering racial tensions, they must confront the weight of trauma, the fragility of identity, and the unbreakable, yet fractured, threads of sisterhood.
Lyrical and devastating, The Whispering Jacarandas evokes the beauty and resilience of its namesake blooms while exploring how love, loyalty, and the search for belonging endure in even the harshest of landscapes.
'How could a root forget her flowers? How strong and beautiful they were. Like jacaranda trees they could survive and bloom wherever they were planted.'
This event will be delivered in-person only.
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Event venue & nearby stays
Shoe Lane Library, 1 Little New Street, London, United Kingdom
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