Western Lane: Shortlisted For The Booker Prize 2023 by Chetna Maroo

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo is a coming-of-age novel that centres on grief, sisterhood and a teenage girl’s effort to move beyond her own limits. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2023, longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024 and longlisted for the William Hill Award 2023.

The book follows eleven-year-old Gopi, who 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 routine, and the sport becomes the framework of her days. As she commits to the game’s rhythms, she begins to drift from her sisters, while the court remains a place of connection with her pa, with Ged, a thirteen-year-old boy with his own talent, and with the players who came before.

Key details

• Author: Chetna Maroo
• Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2023
• Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024
• Longlisted for the William Hill Award 2023
• Selected for BBC Arts & The Reading Agency’s Big Sporting Read
• Chosen by Dua Lipa as one of Service95’s Books of the Year

Synopsis

Gopi, an eleven-year-old squash player, is pulled into an intense training regimen after her mother’s death, with practice and play shaping her life. As she settles into the sport’s patterns, she gradually grows apart from her sisters.

On court, she is accompanied by her father and by Ged, and she is also aware of the players who came before. The novel explores sisterhood, the immigrant experience and the collective process of overcoming grief.