Valmiki's Daughter

Valmiki's Daughter

'Impressive… Mootoo has an impeccable ear… authentic and powerful.' - New York Times Book Review.

Valmiki's Daughter by Giller Prize finalist and bestselling novelist Shani Mootoo is written with the cinematic detail you'd expect from a writer who also moonlights as a visual artist and filmmaker.

Much of the novel takes place in an old French cacao estate in Trinidad and the Toronto-based author's description of chocolate, flowers, tropical landscapes and architecture are truly seductive.

Combine that with a powerful story about closeted homosexuality and you have a novel that is painfully vivid and utterly surreal.

The story circles around Valmiki, a renowned Trinidadian doctor whose reputation as a womanizer conceals the truth about his sexual preferences. At the same time, his youngest daughter, Viveka, is becoming aware of her own sexuality and while struggling to discover the truth about herself, threatens to unmask her father and shake the foundations of her family in a delicately calibrated society.

Discerning but non-judgmental, Mootoo eases us deep into the fascinating lives of her characters and creates a juicy, sexy, beautiful book, full of the vigorous stuff of life alongside a yearning for transcendence.

Shani Mootoo was born in Dublin, Ireland, and grew up in Trinidad, moving to Canada as an adult. Before her foray into writing, she was an acclaimed visual artist. Her novel Cereus Blooms at Night has been published in 15 countries, won the New England Book Sellers Award in 1998 and was short listed in 1997 for the Giller Prize, the Chapters First Novel Award, The Ethel Wilson BC book Award, and long listed for the Booker Mann Prize. Shani currently teachers the Creative Writing Program in the School of Continuing Education at the University of Toronto.

Valmiki's Daughter
UWA Publishing
Author: Shani Mootoo
ISBN: 9781921401367
Price: $29.95