A Splintering

'Smart and gripping – I read it in one sitting. Tara is a glorious creation, crackling with life and aspiration and sensuality' Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire

WINNER OF THE STANFORDS FICTION AWARD 2026

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NOTA BENE PRIZE 2026

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An unforgettable story of motherhood, obsession and ambition

In a village in rural Pakistan, Tara is waiting and watching. The smell of dung and dust hangs over her world. She is desperate to leave the petty life of the village and escape the iron grip of her violent, unpredictable brother. Marrying a middle-class accountant allows her to escape to the capital, but she soon finds that life as a respectable housewife is not sufficient either. She wants what the rich mothers at her children’s school have. She wants what their husbands have. Her desire for wealth and freedom becomes an obsession. But can she truly shake her past? And what of the menacing spectre of her brother, a reminder of the threads that tie her to the life she left behind?

Set against a hypnotic, oppressive backdrop of political violence and natural disaster, A Splintering traces the class struggle of a woman stuck between province and metropolis, between motherhood and ambition. Disquieting and utterly gripping, it is an extraordinary achievement by Dur e Aziz Amna, an exploration of a complex and unforgettable character who will risk everything to carve out a life of her own.

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PRAISE FOR A SPLINTERING

'Captures the fetid backwaters of poverty that Tara loathes and the glittering, corrupting city life she wants to own... alive with psychological intricacy and beauty... a superb second novel'Mirzha Aheed,Guardian

'Amna is a witty and spiky writer and A Splintering is a blistering portrayal of a woman unwilling to accept life’s unfairness. Despite Tara’s greed and cruelty, her disdain for the restraints of her society is mesmerising. As her schemes to escape get wilder, you urge her on' Emily Lawford, Sunday Times

'A lacerating novel by a writer of great insight and deep compassion' Mohsin Hamid, author ofThe Last White Man

'An intoxicating, high-voltage mix of female rage, economic ambition, erotic awakening, and biting disdain aimed at the expectations faced by women in contemporary Pakistani society' Aube Rey Lescure, author of River East, River West

'A riveting read that boldly calls out patriarchy in Pakistan and beyond' Mohammed Hanif, author of Red Birds

'In harrowing detail, Amna shows us how those forces - tradition, patriarchy, capitalism - deform and fracture our inner lives so profoundly that imagination becomes as much a prison as it is a key. I'm in awe of this book' Chris Knapp, author ofStates of Emergency

'A gripping, troubling, masterful story. I could not put it down' Ayşegül Savaş, author of The Anthropologists

Dur e Aziz Amna is from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and now lives in Newark, USA. Her debut novel, American Fever, was published in 2023 and won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and the South Asia Book Award. Her work also appears in the New York Times, Financial Times, and Al Jazeera, among others. She was selected as Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2022, and won the 2019 Financial Times / Bodley Head Essay Prize. She is a graduate of Yale College and the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan.