The ParcelBy Anosh IraniKnopf Canada304 pp; $34As a child, Anosh Irani became captivated with the sex workers outside the gate of his family’s Mumbai home. “I started exploring the hijra (transgender) community, trafficking – how these things happen, why are they still happening? Or even if people are talking about it, nothing changes.”The denizens of Kamathipura, Mumbai’s famed red light district, inspired The Parcel, Irani’s newly released fourth novel. “But one has to drop all those terms to really understand the hijra community.” As he expands, “I wanted us to understand Madhu, just as a human being. “I was really consumed by the things that I saw, both haunted and inspired,” he says.

Source: National Post September 26, 2016 16:18 UTC