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A Golden Age
Tahmima Anam
Novel, 2007
A widow in Dhaka is drawn into the 1971 Liberation War, showing the conflict's effect on ordinary families and the birth of the nation.
Books set in Bangladesh
Three books by writers from Bangladesh, set there, that give a real sense of the place, starting with A Golden Age and The Good Muslim.
About the literature of Bangladesh
Writing from Bangladesh is bound up with the Language Movement of 1952, when protesters in Dhaka were killed demanding recognition for Bengali. Its date, 21 February, is now marked by UNESCO as International Mother Language Day. Older traditions include the Mymensingh Ballads, folk narrative songs collected in the early twentieth century. Many writers work in Bengali, some in English, and the 1971 Liberation War, which created the country, remains a central subject.
Tahmima Anam's A Golden Age is set in Dhaka, where a widow is drawn into that war, and its sequel The Good Muslim traces a brother and sister divided by religious conservatism in the years after it. Taslima Nasrin's Lajja, translated from Bengali, follows a Hindu family in Dhaka facing communal violence after the 1992 Babri Mosque demolition.
By writers from Bangladesh
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The Good Muslim
Tahmima Anam
Novel, 2011
Follows a family in post-war Bangladesh, as the legacy of 1971 and the rise of religious conservatism divide a brother and sister.
Lajja
Taslima Nasrin
Novel, 1993. Translated from Bengali
Follows a Hindu family in Dhaka facing communal violence after the 1992 Babri Mosque demolition, revealing minority life in Bangladesh.
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