A Guardian biography of the year 2022 Non-Fiction winner of the OCM Bocas Prize for Literature 2023 This frank, fearless and multi-layered debut centres on a privileged but dysfunctional Indian family, with themes of empire, migration, race, and gender. The Victorian India elephant in the room in Ira Mathur's silk-swathed memoir is in chains. By the time calypso replaces the Raj in post-colonial Trinidad, the chains are off three generations of daughters and mothers in a family in their New World exile. But they are still stuck in place and enduring insecurity and threats, seen and unseen. Set in India, England, Trinidad and a weekend in St Lucia, with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, Love the Dark Days follows the story of a girl, Poppet, of mixed middle-class Hindu and Elite Muslim parentage from post- independent India to her family's migration to post-colonial Trinidad. Profoundly raw, unflinching, layered, but not without threads of humour and perceived absurdity, Love the Dark Days reassembles the story of a disintegrating Empire. "Reads like a fictional family saga as it leaps back and forth in time against a backdrop of patriarchal hegemony and a collapsing empire" - Guardian Best Biographies of 2022 "Compelling" The Observer "A gem of a memoir... Monique Roffey is spot on when she calls it a blaze of a book" The Bookseller

'Reads like a fictional family saga as it leaps back and forth in time against a backdrop of patriarchal hegemony and a collapsing empire' -Guardian Best Books of 2022

About the Author
IRA MATHUR is an Indian-born Trinidadian award-winning multimedia journalist. Her debut, Love The Dark Days (Peepal Tree Press) was listed by The Guardian among the best biographies of 2022. In 2021 she was longlisted for the Bath Novel Award for her unpublished novel Touching Dr Simone. Mathur gained diplomas in creative writing at the University of East Anglia/Guardian with Gillian Slovo and James Scudamore and The Faber Academy with Maggie Gee. She is currently the Trinidad Guardian's longest-running columnist and has freelanced for The Guardian (UK) and the BBC. She has degrees in Literature and Law and a Masters in International Journalism. Her body of journalism is available on www.irasroom.org

Reviews
"Love The Dark Days" listed among the best memoirs/biographies for 2022 - The Guardian,; "Love the Dark Days is a troubled and troubling book, a heady brew that stays with you." - The Daily Telegraph.; "A beautiful, beautiful book ... a wonderful read." Michael Portillo - Times Radio.; "A moving book about mothers and daughters in post-colonial India Anita Rani, Woman's Hour BBC R4.; "This brave and inspiring feminist critique of patriarchy and gender oppression has wonderful promise as a biting movie adaptation for the #MeToo era."- Hollywood Reporter.; "I was transported by this gem of a memoir." The Bookseller.


Awards
Winner of The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature - Non Fiction Category 2023.



Book Information
ISBN 9781845235352
Author Ira Mathur
Format Paperback
Page Count 222
Imprint Peepal Tree Press Ltd
Publisher Peepal Tree Press Ltd