We’re delighted to be welcoming Reshma Ruia back to the shop for the launch of her new novel STILL LIVES – a timely, haunting novel about love, betrayal and belonging. Reshma will be in conversation with the Centre for New Writing’s John McAuliffe.

About the book:

“Compelling characters, fantastic prose, sexy, funny and wise.” –Heidi James, author of The Sound Mirror and So the Doves

“An expertly crafted novel, filled with light-touch prose and inhabitable scenes, threaded with compelling and believable dialogue. It’s a book you can lose yourself in, and I did.” – Adam Farrer, author of Cold Fish Soup

Young, handsome and contemptuous of his father’s traditional ways, PK Malik leaves Bombay to start a new life in America. Stopping in Manchester to visit an old friend, he thinks he sees a business opportunity, and decides to stay on. Now fifty-five, PK has fallen out of love with life. His business is struggling and his wife Geeta is lonely, pining for the India she’s left behind. One day PK crosses the path of Esther, the wife of his business competitor, and they launch into an affair conducted in shabby hotel rooms, with the fear of discovery forever hanging in the air. Still Lives is a tightly woven, haunting work that pulls apart the threads of a family and plays with notions of identity. Shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize.

About the author:

Reshma Ruia is an award-winning author and poet. She has a PhD and Master’s in Creative Writing from Manchester University. Her first novel, Something Black in the Lentil Soup, was described in the Sunday Times as ‘a gem of straight-faced comedy’. She has published a poetry collection, A Dinner Party in the Home Counties, and a short story collection, Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness; her writing has been commissioned by the BBC, Manchester Literature Festival and University of Cumbria. She is the co-founder of The Whole Kahani – a writers’ collective of British South Asian writers. Born in India and brought up in Rome, her writing explores the preoccupations of those who possess a multiple sense of belonging.

Doors: 18.30, event starts: 18.45

Tickets are £3.00 or free when pre-ordering a copy of the book. STILL LIVES will also be available to purchase on the night and Reshma will be signing copies after the talk. If you would like a signed copy but cannot make the event, please contact us on 0161 274 3331 or manchester@blackwell.co.uk and we can arrange this for you.