Sisters in Arms

Shida Bazyar (trans. Ruth Martin)

‘Shida Bazyar tells us — uncompromisingly, powerfully, and accusingly — what it means to have one’s origins constantly questioned.’

Judges’ comments for The German Book Prize

‘[W]ill appeal to fans of Elena Ferrante, Zadie Smith, and Kamila Shamsie … An immersive and thought-provoking read with a strong plot and relatable characters, and which explores urgent contemporary questions around racism and sexism in society.’

New Books in German

View all reviews

‘This worthy novel about immigration and racism in contemporary Germany is tough going. Bazyar is astute in her depiction of a contemporary climate that explicitly “others” migrants.’

Claire Allfree, Daily Mail

‘It tackles the pressing issues of our time, and yet it is timeless. This is a story of friendship, marginalisation and society's blindness to its own deep-seated problems … A triumph. It has all the makings of great literature, literature that will endure … Sisters in Arms demonstrates that all the talk about the lack of social relevance of art and literature is a fatal mistake.’

Gerrit Wustmann, Qantara

‘Sends us on a journey of exploration, right into the abyss of German identity politics — a magnificent book.’

Süddeutsche Zeitung

‘An explosive feminist and anti-racist novel about the importance of friendship … Sisters ini Arms is a provocative, uncompromising, and moving novel about the extraordinary alliance between three young women and the only thing that makes a self-determined life possible in a society that doesn't tolerate otherness: unconditional friendship.’

Female

‘Humane, relatable, and self-aware, Sisters in Arms is an involving novel that indicts polite neoliberalism and open racism alike for the ways in which people in contemporary societies are forced apart.’

Foreword Reviews

‘A smart, important novel that gives you a caress on the cheek and a punch in the jaw as you read it. The amazing thing is that in the end you want more of both.’

Pierre Jarawan author of Song for the Missing

‘We don’t exist in this world. Here we’re neither Germans nor refugees; we aren’t newsreaders or experts. We’re some kind of joker in the pack, and they don’t know if they can use us for anything.’

Kasih, Hani, and Saya have shared a deep friendship since school and the years they lived in the same public housing estate. Kasih and Hani still live in the same city, but now Saya is returning and they have a lot to catch up on. Yet amid the laughter and determination of their sisterhood, it’s clear to the three young women that they haven’t escaped the racism that has accompanied their daily lives since childhood: the glances, the chatter, and the outright right-wing terror.

Sisters in Arms is a lyrical, explosive novel about the importance of friendship — the kind of extraordinary friendship that brings stability to an unstable world. Until one dramatic night that will change everything for the three women, propelling Kasih to tell the tale of themselves.

‘Shida Bazyar tells us — uncompromisingly, powerfully, and accusingly — what it means to have one’s origins constantly questioned.’

Judges’ comments for The German Book Prize

New Books in German

View all reviews

‘This worthy novel about immigration and racism in contemporary Germany is tough going. Bazyar is astute in her depiction of a contemporary climate that explicitly “others” migrants.’

Claire Allfree, Daily Mail

Gerrit Wustmann, Qantara

‘Sends us on a journey of exploration, right into the abyss of German identity politics — a magnificent book.’

Süddeutsche Zeitung

Female

Foreword Reviews

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:288pp

ISBN (13):9781761380105

RRP:$32.99

Pub date:5 Sep 2023

Rights Held: World English

High-res cover:Download Image

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AUTHOR

Shida Bazyar

Shida Bazyar, born in 1988, studied writing in Hildesheim, and, in addition to writing, worked in youth education for many years. Her debut novel Nachts ist es leise in Teheran (2016) won the Blogger Literary Award, Ulla Hahn Prize, and Uwe Johnson Prize, among others, and has been translated into Dutch, Farsi, French, and Turkish. Sisters in Arms is her second novel, and her first to be translated into English.

TRANSLATOR

Ruth Martin

Ruth Martin studied English literature before gaining a PhD in German. She has been translating fiction and nonfiction books since 2010, by authors ranging from Joseph Roth and Hannah Arendt to Volker Weidermann and Shida Bazyar. She has taught translation at the University of Kent and the Bristol Translates summer school, and is a former co-chair of the Society of Authors Translators Association.

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Sisters in Arms

Shida Bazyar (trans. Ruth Martin)

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