“Stunning debut novel." –Publishers Weekly, ★ Starred Review
WINNER OF THE
AWP PRIZE FOR THE NOVEL
Longlisted for
The Center for Fiction 2024 First Novel Prize
and the 2024 New American Voices Award
Named A Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Ms. Magazine
Named To Brown Girl Bookshelf's List of 24 Books to Read in 2024
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In 1950s Bombay, India, visionary twin sisters, Jaya and Kamlesh Malhotra, aspire to become artists in a society that denies women the freedom to shape their own lives. Inside the Mirror is a brilliant exploration of female creativity and identity-making in a country remaking its own identity in the devastating aftermath of British rule.
“An engaging examination of female independence and familial devotion."
–Kirkus Reviews
“A gorgeous novel about art, independence and the roots that bind a family together.”
—Devi S. Laskar, author of Circa and The Atlas of Reds and Blues
“With breathtaking lyricism and scorching insight, Kapur captures women in flux brilliantly. This profound book complicates the impact of colonialism and throbs with life. Inside the Mirror is an extraordinary novel.”
—Jennifer Maritza McCauley, author of When Trying to Return Home
“Heartrending in its exploration of family drama, this is a beautiful and ambitious work of fiction.”
—Brandon Hobson, National Book Award finalist and author of The Removed
Parul Kapur was born in Assam, India and grew up in the United States. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal Europe, Art in America, Guernica, Slate, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Paris Review. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and has received fellowships from the Hambidge Center and Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. She lives in Atlanta.