Western Lane: Shortlisted For The Booker Prize 2023

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo is a novel centred on grief, sisterhood and a teenage girl’s effort to move beyond herself. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2023, it follows Gopi as her life is shaped by loss and the demanding routines that follow.

Gopi is eleven and has played squash since she was old enough to hold a racket. After her mother dies, her father draws her into a quietly brutal training regimen, and the sport becomes her entire world. As she trains, she begins to grow apart from her sisters, living by the game’s rhythms: the serve, the volley, the drive, the shot and its echo. On court, she is not alone; she is with her pa, with Ged, a thirteen-year-old boy with his own formidable talent, and with the players who have come before her.

Key details

• Novel by Chetna Maroo
• Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2023
• Coming-of-age story
• Set around competitive squash training and its routines

Synopsis

Eleven-year-old Gopi has played squash since childhood. When her mother dies, her father commits her to an intense training schedule, and the sport becomes the centre of her life, gradually distancing her from her sisters.

On the court, she finds herself alongside her father, Ged, and the presence of earlier players. The story explores sisterhood, the immigrant experience and the shared work of living with grief.