A Splintering

An unforgettable story of motherhood, obsession and ambition

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Pub Date 4 Sep 2025 | Archive Date Not set

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Description

Would you risk everything to have it all?

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.

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. In Tara, Dur e Aziz Amna has created a complex and unforgettable character, who will risk everything to carve out a life of her own.

Would you risk everything to have it all?

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...


Advance Praise

‘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

'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, Tara's voice will sear itself in your consciousness like the scowl of a convict facing the firing squad. Never have my sympathies been so roused, tested, and provoked by a character both heroic and tragic, wily and cornered, raw and charred... a magnificent sophomore novel, replete with Amna's trademark lyricism and sparkling wit' Aube Rey Lescure, author of River East, River West


‘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

'An intoxicating, high-voltage mix...


Marketing Plan

– A major marketing and publicity campaign to reach literary fiction readers

– Perfect for readers of Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan and the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante.

– Written by a critically acclaimed author: Dur e Aziz Amna won the 2019 Financial Times/Bodley Head Essay Prize and was named Forbes 30 Under 30 (2022).

– Her debut novel, American Fever, won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and the South Asia Book Award, earning praise for its sharp storytelling and emotional depth.

We are looking for passionate readers to help spread the word about A Splintering. Your reviews will make a huge difference in bringing this unforgettable novel to a wider audience.

– A major marketing and publicity campaign to reach literary fiction readers

– Perfect for readers of Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan and the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante.

– Written by...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9780715655894
PRICE £16.99 (GBP)
PAGES 288

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Featured Reviews

Dur e Aziz Amna is a gifted storyteller and I have been eagerly awaiting her second novel. A Splintering is virtuosic in setting a gripping tale of ruthless ambition and class mobility against the backdrop of Pakistani society in the throes of political and socio-economic change. I came of age in precisely the time period in which this novel is set in the same cities so the novel was particularly captivating to read. The protagonist Tara, has an electrifying presence on each page and I love how Amna has created a character with a dodgy moral compass, acidic language, unending needs but she is persistent in subverting the patriarchy and making it work for her. I found myself strangely rooting for her despite not finding her particularly likeable. I read A Splintering with avidity and I suggest you do, too.

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i have no words to describe the sensuality and feverish tone of this novel. it grapples with femininity, motherhood, and ambition in a language i am yet to be familiar with. the protagonist, tara, learns how to bend the men in her world to her will, and this is written not with abstractions but with a near-tangible sense of self. this book served its purpose. i am, literally, at lost for words at how gripping this novel was. i read it for straight 3 hours, without stopping, in hopes of finding out what happens in the next pages. it is raw and real—everything i could wish for in a novel. really perfect for fans of elena ferrante like me.

how this novel portrayed ambition was very beguiling and familiar. this book is, in so many ways, a rage awakening for women. that beneath each and every one of us lies a rage suffused by ambition, and the protagonist very much exhibits this rage with her searing voice all throughout the novel. amna’s profound ability to articulate words and write them is inspiring—i especially loved how it’s titled the way it’s titled because it starts to make sense after reading the book. amazing and powerful work! i can’t wait for it to be out in the world.

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