num_pages: 280
description: Finalist for the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and for the Governor General's Literary Award this powerful new work about a transgender sex worker in the red-light district of Bombay who is given an unexpected task is a gripping literary page-turner--difficult and moving surprising and tender. Anosh Irani's best novel yet and his first with Knopf Canada. The Parcel's astonishing heart soul and unforgettable voice is Madhu--born a boy but a eunuch by choice--who has spent most of her life in a close-knit clan of transgender sex workers in Kamathipura the notorious red-light district of Bombay. Madhu identifies herself as a hijra--a person belonging to the third sex neither here nor there man nor woman. Now at 40 she has moved away from prostitution her trade since her teens and is forced to beg to support the charismatic head of the hijra clan Gurumai. One day Madhu receives a call from Padma Madam the most feared brothel owner in the district: a parcel has arrived--a young girl from the provinces betrayed and trafficked by her aunt--and Madhu must prepare it for its fate. Despite Madhu's reluctance she is forced to take the job by Gurumai. As Madhu's emotions spiral out of control her past comes back to haunt her threatening to unravel a lifetime's work and identity. This is a dark devastating but ultimately redemptive novel that promises to be one of the most talked-about publications of the year.
language: English
title: The Parcel
publisher: Knopf Canada