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Chetna Maroo

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Chetna Maroo is a British Indian author. Her debut novel, Western Lane, was shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize.

Personal life

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Maroo was born in Kenya.[1][2] As of 2023, she lived in London.[1]

Career

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Maroo was originally employed as an accountant before devoting herself to writing full time.[1][2]

In 2023, she published her debut novel, Western Lane, with Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Western Lane

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Maroo's debut novel, Western Lane, was published February 7, 2023 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The novel follows Gopi, an 11-year-old girl who has been playing squash since she could first grasp a racket. Following her mother's death, her father begins training her more intensely. With this training, she drifts away from her sisters and cares only about squash. When she's on the court, she feels more connected to her father and connects with Ged, who also excels playing squash. Further, she feels connected to everyone who played on the court before her.[3]

Western Lane was well received by critics, including a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, who called it "a debut novel of immense poise and promise."[4]

Given the familiar storyline presented, The Guardian's Caleb Klaces noted that readers "might expect Western Lane to feel formulaic, but it doesn’t. It feels like the work of a writer who knows what they want to do, and who has the rare ability to do it."[5]

American novelist and squash player Ivy Pochoda, writing for The New York Times Book Review, called Western Lane "polished and disciplined", saying, "The beauty of Maroo’s novel lies in that unfolding, the narrative shaped as much by what is on the page as by what’s left unsaid".[6] Similarly, Shelf Awareness's Shahina Piyarali called Maroo "a marvelous and restrained storyteller".[7]

Publishers Weekly called Western Lane "compact and powerful," highlighting how "Maroo skillfully balances" the novel's varied dramas.[8]

Booklist also reviewed the novel,[9] as well the audiobook, noting that "London actor [Maya] Saroya is a gentle, measured cipher, moving seamlessly between the crisper British English of the sisters and their contemporaries and the more lyrical South Asian accents of the older generation. Hers is an unhurried performance, as if leaving open breathing room for the unspeakable, the absent, and perhaps even a little space for hopeful potential."[10]

Awards and honors

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Awards for Maroo's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
2022 “Brothers and Sisters” Plimpton Prize for Fiction Winner [1][11]
2023 Western Lane Booker Prize Shortlist [12][13]
2024 Western Lane Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist [14]

Publications

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  • Western Lane. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2023. ISBN 9780374607494.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Chetna Maroo". The Booker Prizes. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  2. ^ a b "Chetna Maroo Wins This Year's Plimpton Prize". The Paris Review. 2022-03-09. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  3. ^ Western Lane. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2023. ISBN 9780374607494.
  4. ^ "Western Lane". Kirkus Reviews. 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  5. ^ Klaces, Caleb (2023-04-26). "Western Lane by Chetna Maroo review – a tender debut". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  6. ^ Pochoda, Ivy (2023-02-07). "'Western Lane' Finds Solace From Grief on the Squash Court". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  7. ^ Piyarali, Shahina (2023-01-03). "Review: Western Lane". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  8. ^ "Western Lane". Publishers Weekly. 2022-11-08. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  9. ^ "Western Lane". Booklist. 2022-12-01. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  10. ^ Hong, Terry (2023-06-01). "Western Lane". Booklist. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  11. ^ "Prizes". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  12. ^ Schaub, Michael (2023-09-21). "Shortlist for the 2023 Booker Prize Is Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  13. ^ Creamer, Ella (2023-09-21). "Just one British writer makes the Booker prize shortlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  14. ^ Creamer, Ella (2024-03-05). "Anne Enright and Isabella Hammad make the Women's prize for fiction longlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
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