Imprint
- W&N
- W&N
- W&N
India, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Historical fiction
A powerful novel about belonging, race, British India and contemporary Britain, by the Dylan Thomas Prize-shortlisted author of Pigeon.
'A TRULY CONVINCING STATE-OF-THE-NATION NOVEL' Daily Mail
'I LOVED THIS... MAGDA IS A REAL STAND-OUT CHARACTER FOR ME IN BOOKS I'VE READ RECENTLY, I CAN'T QUITE STOP THINKING ABOUT HER' Jane Garvey, BBC Woman's Hour
Magda is a former scientist with a bad temper and a sharp tongue, living alone in a huge house by the sea and getting through carers at a rate of knots.
Until Susheela arrives, carrying life with her: grief for her mother's recent death; worry for her father; longing for a beautiful and troubled young man.
The two women strike up an unlikely friendship: Magda's no-nonsense attitude turns out to be an unexpected source of strength for Susheela; and Susheela's Bengali heritage brings back memories of Magda's childhood in colonial India and resurrects the tragic figure of her mother, Evelyn.
But as Magda digs deeper into her past, she unlocks a shocking legacy of blood that threatens to destroy the careful order she has imposed on her life - a legacy that might just be the key to give the three women, Evelyn, Magda and Susheela, a place they can finally call home.
Praise for Dignity
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Conran's fierce, compassionate second novel explores the complexities of the Raj and contemporary Britain through the eyes of three brilliantly realised characters, who are finely drawn and entirely believable. - Mail on Sunday
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Packs a powerful punch and makes you smile while breaking your heart. - Woman's Weekly
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Conran's work is subtle and complex: there is no one right story about the Empire. Instead we are offered multiple views, ironies and contradictions that only one of most talented, tender writers in Wales could portray. - New Welsh Review
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Fierce, compassionate, angry, but above all, heart-breakingly real. I was drawn in from the very first page. - Claire Fuller, author of BITTER ORANGE
Alys Conran
ALYS CONRAN's first novel PIGEON (Parthian, 2016) won the Wales Book of the Year Award 2017, the Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award, the Wales Arts Review People's Choice Award and was shortlised for the International Dylan Thomas Prize.
Originally from North Wales, she spent several years in Edinburgh and Barcelona before returning to the area to live and write. She is now Lecturer in Creative Writing at Bangor and has been selected as the Hay Festival International Fellow for 2019-2020.
Her late father, also a writer, was born in Kharagpur, Bengal.
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