A taut tale of female friendship and betrayal.
Set between the 1970s and 2010, I Never Said That I Was Brave examines the complicated relationship between two women as they navigate a culture vastly different from their parents’. Motivated by guilt and confusion, the unnamed narrator recounts the shifting dynamics of her lifelong friendship with Miriam, a charismatic astrophysicist who focuses on dark matter. As childhood immigrants to Canada from Uganda, the girls are able to assimilate (though not always easily). In adulthood, they chafe against the deeply held traditions and expectations of their South Asian community and their own internalized beliefs about women.
As the narrator follows her memories on their unpredictable and unreliable paths, the reader is taken along on a devastating journey, one which blurs distinctions between right and wrong, victim and manipulator, life and death.
A taut tale of female friendship and betrayal.
Set between the 1970s and 2010, I Never Said That I Was Brave examines the complicated relationship between two women as they navigate a culture vastly different from their parents’. Motivated by guilt and confusion, the unnamed narrator recounts the shifting dynamics of her lifelong friendship with Miriam, a charismatic astrophysicist who focuses on dark matter. As childhood immigrants to Canada from Uganda, the girls are able to assimilate (though not always easily). In adulthood, they chafe against the deeply held traditions and expectations of their South Asian community and their own internalized beliefs about women.
As the narrator follows her memories on their unpredictable and unreliable paths, the reader is taken along on a devastating journey, one which blurs distinctions between right and wrong, victim and manipulator, life and death.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Sep 17, 2024 |
| Specifications | 272 pages | 5.25 in x 8 in |
| Keywords | Elena Ferrante; angst; South Asian; unreliable narrator; girlhood; Where the Air Is Sweet; science; quantum physics; Gen X; largest non-european immigration movement to Canada; Silken Gazelles; Jokha Alharthi; memory; murder; suicide; multigenerational; |
|
Supporting Resources
(select item to download) |
Excerpt |
| Written By |
TASNEEM JAMAL was born in Mbarara, Uganda, and immigrated to Canada in 1975. Her debut novel Where the Air Is Sweet was published to critical acclaim in 2014. That same year she was named one of 12 rising CanLit stars on CBC's annual list of Writers to Watch. Her writing has appeared in Chatelaine, Saturday Night magazine, and the Literary Review of Canada. She is the writing coach of The X Page Storytelling Workshop and an editor at The New Quarterly literary magazine. She lives in Kitchener. |
| Written By |
|
TASNEEM JAMAL was born in Mbarara, Uganda, and immigrated to Canada in 1975. Her debut novel Where the Air Is Sweet was published to critical acclaim in 2014. That same year she was named one of 12 rising CanLit stars on CBC's annual list of Writers to Watch. Her writing has appeared in Chatelaine, Saturday Night magazine, and the Literary Review of Canada. She is the writing coach of The X Page Storytelling Workshop and an editor at The New Quarterly literary magazine. She lives in Kitchener. |
“With a special sensitivity for entanglements of the heart, I Never Said That I Was Brave explores the devastating consequences when those who know us the best, hurt us the worst.” — Anuja Varghese, author of the Governor General’s Literary Award–winning Chrysalis
”“This is a beautiful, hypnotic, and searching novel told with the intimacy and honesty one might find in a cherished friend.” — Camilla Gibb, author of The Relatives
”“In masterful prose, Tasneem Jamal shows us the intricacies of memory and how we shape it to tell the stories of our lives.” — Emily Urquhart, author of Ordinary Wonder Tales
”“In this beautifully written, remarkably intimate novel, the shadow side of enduring friendship is inextricably entangled with its sweetness—evoking a sense of awe for the lengths to which a person will go to be loved, and to love.” — Carrie Snyder, author of Girl Runner and Francie’s Got a Gun
”