The Parcel
by Anosh Irani
The first novel in six years from a beloved and bestselling Canadian author whose previous work has been shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and Canada Reads, and has sold to publishers around the world. This powerful new work, about a transgender sex worker in the red-light district of Bombay who is given an unexpected task, is a gripping literary page-turner—difficult and moving, surprising and tender. Anosh Irani's best novel yet, and his first with Knopf Canada.The Parcel's astonishing heart, soul and unforgettable voice is Madhu—born a boy, but a eunuch by choice—who has spent most of her life in a close-knit clan of transgender sex workers in Kamathipura, the notorious red-light district of Bombay. Madhu identifies herself as a "hijra"—a person belonging to the third sex, neither here nor there, man nor woman. Now, at 40, she has moved away from prostitution, her trade since her teens, and is forced to beg to support the...