Tahmima Anam’s ‘The Bones of Grace’ launched in Bangladesh

The third novel of award-winning author Tahmima Anam ‘The Bones of Grace’, the last of her trilogy on the Haque family, was launched in Bangladesh on Friday at The Daily Star Centre. The novel was first released in the UK on May 19. Unlike the first two books of the series – “A Golden Age” and “The Good Muslim”, which are mostly set in Tahmima’s home country Bangladesh – “The Bones of Grace” begins its narrative in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The novel is narrated by Zubaida Haque, a marine paleontologist from Dhaka, whose fieldwork of finding an ancient whale skeleton gets caught up in the middle of sectarian violence in Pakistan. Her research interest brings her back to her homeland, Bangladesh, and subsequently she sets off on a journey to find her roots. Distinguished litterateur Imdadul Haq Milon, Brac University English and humanities department chair Prof Ferdous Azim, Director General of Gyantapas Abdur Razzaq Foundation Prof Ahrar Ahmed, noted novelist Selina Hossain and former chair of Dhaka University English department Prof Syed Manzoorul Islam were present at the book launching programme. Her debut novel “A Golden Age,” published in 2007, is set during Bangladesh’s Liberation War. “A Golden Age,” won Tahmima the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the Best First Book category. Its sequel, “The Good Muslim,” was long-listed for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. The time period of “The Good Muslim,” where the characters of “A Golden Age” grow up, portrays the 1980s Bangladesh, the speakers said at the programme. “The Bones of Grace” is Tahmima Anam’s second book published from The Daily Star Books.