About Book
Musharraf Ali Farooqi’s new novel, set in an unnamed Pakistani city shortly after Partition, unravels the lives of Ustad Ramzi, one of the greatest wrestlers of the land, who is now old and warmed only by the memories of his past, and the equally renowned Gohar Jan, a courtesan whose kotha once welcomed lords of the land but is now in danger of being shut down.
Through the course of this book we witness Ustad Ramzi’s almost fanatical devotion to his craft and his akhara, and the attempts of his younger brother Tamami also a wrestler to rise from the towering shadow of Ustad Ramzi. We witness, also, the unusual, unspoken bond that grows between the celibate wrestler and the elegant courtesan, both past their prime.
Spare, haunting and exquisitely written, Between Clay and Dust is a remarkably original offering from a novelist working at the height of his powers.
About Author
Musharraf Ali Farooqi was born in 1968 in Hyderabad, Pakistan, and currently lives in Karachi. His previous novel, The Story of a Widow, was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2010. He is also the highly acclaimed translator of Urdu classics Hoshruba and The Adventures of Amir Hamza, contemporary Urdu poet Afzal Ahmed Syed’s selected poetry and Urdu writer Syed Muhammad Ashraf’s novel The Beast. His children’s fiction includes The Amazing Moustaches of Moochhander the Iron Man and Other Stories and the picture book The Cobbler’s Holiday or Why Ants Don’t Wear Shoes.