Fern Road Boy by Angshu Dasgupta in Paperback

‘[Fern Road Boy] unfolds with the deceptive languor of a summer afternoon which carries within it the ominous hush of a gathering storm. Observed with keen empathy and rich in atmospheric detail, it’s a coming-of-age story with a difference, as a young boy learns what it means to not fit into the world around him.’ —Sandip Roy, author of Don’t Let Him Know.When he was little, Orko thought that he was going to grow up to be exactly like his mother. After she disappears, he struggles with the realisation that he is a boy, and boys grow up to be men. He prays to Ma Lokhi to turn him into girl, like his friend Urmi, but his wish is not granted. Then his father signs him up for football camp, and it is there that things begin to go horribly wrong…Set in 1980s’ Calcutta, Fern Road Boy is an extraordinary debut—a tender, moving and immersive story of a young boy’s journey through conflict and confusion to self-realization and strength..‘A tender, tough novel…a beautifully crafted work…It is a quiet book [about] sadness and silence…The real strength of the book, however, lies in raising awareness of an issue from which we have long shied away. Orko is not easily forgotten.’ —The Book Review