The city of Lahore, with all its masks, is Nida’s home and, she feels, her prison. Her only sanctuary in this concrete labyrinth is Data Sahib’s dargah, where Bhanggi sits under the huge bargadh tree and plays his flute. But it’s not a tune she can heed, is it? She a Begum, and he, a beggar? She a woman and he, a hermaphrodite?
This House of Clay and Water is the debut novel by writer Faiqa Mansab, and will be published by Penguin Random House India in May 2017. Set in Lahore, it is a love story loosely based in Heer Ranjha. A woman, NIda, and a Hijra, fall in love. We are delighted for Faiqa, who submitted her manuscript to TLC in 2014 and received a TLC manuscript assessment report from editor Kavita Bhanot. You can read more about Faiqa’s journey to publication, and about the book when it comes out, on her website.
Of her experience with TLC, Faiqa said:
“I’d been wanting someone professional to read my novel and TLC was the one name that kept cropping up. So I got in touch with Aki and sent the manuscript. The team at TLC, Aki, Yen and Kavita Bhanot, who read the novel, were very helpful. I got a detailed report back on the manuscript which encouraged me look at it through the editor’s eyes and I agreed with most of the feedback. I used it to edit and hone the story and the novel read so much better afterwards. My experience with TLC was wonderful and I’m so glad I chose them.”
We wish her the very best of luck.
Writer Biography:
Faiqa Mansab finished her Masters in Fine Arts Creative Writing with Distinction from Kingston University London, in 2014. Her short stories and an excerpt from her novel were published in The Missing Slate in 2013. She has been a teacher and school administrator for ten years. She has also published in academic journals, and newspapers. Faiqa conducts creative writing workshops when she is not working on a novel. This House of Clay and Water is Faiqa’s debut novel and she is currently working on another one.
