Home of the Floating Lily

by Silmy Abdullah

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Pub Date Jul 20 2021 | Archive Date May 31 2021

General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction

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Description

2021 DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD — RUNNER-UP

Caught between cultures, immigrant families from a Bengali neighbourhood in Toronto strive to navigate their home, relationships, and happiness.

Set in both Canada and Bangladesh, the eight stories in Home of the Floating Lily follow the lives of everyday people as they navigate the complexities of migration, displacement, love, friendship, and familial conflict. A young woman moves to Toronto after getting married but soon discovers her husband is not who she believes him to be. A mother reconciles her heartbreak when her sons defy her expectations and choose their own paths in life. A lonely international student returns to Bangladesh and forms an unexpected bond with her domestic helper. A working-class woman, caught between her love for Bangladesh and her determination to raise her daughter in Canada, makes a life-altering decision after a dark secret from the past is revealed.

In each of the stories, characters embark on difficult journeys in search of love, dignity, and a sense of belonging.

Advance Praise

"Home of the Floating Lily by Silmy Abdullah offers an intimate, empathetic and important portrait of the lives of Bangladeshi immigrants in Toronto." —Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes and The Illegal

"Home of the Floating Lily is an intimate examination of love and loss, duty and freedom, of family and friendship. Follow the silken thread running through Silmy Abdullah's illuminating stories. She will remind you of what it truly means to be a daughter, a sister, a son, a brother, a parent, or a friend. Her characters will speak to you of what it is to be young and to be old, of endings and beginnings. Each story is an exploration of our universal longing to be at home in this world and at home in our hearts. I am a better person for having read this wonderful book." —Christy Ann Conlin, author of Watermark and The Speed of Mercy