Name: Bone and Bread
ISBN: 9781770890091

Saleema Nawaz

When sisters Beena and Sadhana are orphaned as teenagers and sent to live with their Sikh uncle in Montreal's Hasidic community, their lives take divergent courses as they deal with their grief in different ways.

Bone and Bread

Winner of the Quebec Writers' Federation Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction Beena and Sadhana are sisters who share a bond that could only have been shaped by the most unusual of childhoods — and by shared tragedy. Orphaned as teenagers, they have grown up under the exasperated watch of their Sikh uncle, who runs a bagel shop in Montreal's Hasidic community of Mile End. Together, they try to make sense of the rich, confusing brew of values, rituals, and beliefs that form their inheritance. Yet as they grow towards adulthood, their paths begin to diverge. Beena catches the attention of one of the "bagel boys" and finds herself pregnant at sixteen, while Sadhana drives herself to perfectionism and anorexia. When we first meet the adult Beena, she is grappling with a fresh grief: Sadhana has died suddenly and strangely, her body lying undiscovered for a week before anyone realizes what has happened. Beena is left with a burden of guilt and an unsettled feeling about the circumstances of her sister's death, which she sets about to uncover. Her search stirs memories and opens wounds, threatening to undo the safe, orderly existence she has painstakingly created for herself and her son. Saleema Nawaz's characters compel us, intrigue us, and delight us with their raw, complicated humanity, and her sentences sing in the gorgeous cadences of a writer who chooses every word with the utmost care. Heralded across Canada for the power and promise of her debut collection, Mother Superior, Nawaz proves with Bone and Bread that she is one of our most talented and unique storytellers.

Eleanor Luhar

A huge thanks to Edelweiss+ for providing me with a copy of this novel.
As I've mentioned many times on my blog, I have anorexia. I struggle with mental health issues and I believe books on the topic are extremely important. This took my interest for that reason, but I didn't expect this unique view. Beena's sister, Sadhana, is diagnosed with anorexia at 14 - after a rather traumatic, difficult childhood. Beena recaps their early days, while simultaneously narrating her current-day life. At first, Beena only vaguely references Sadhana's illness, but it soon becomes clear that her heart attack was brought on by the eating disorder. 
This book is about Sadhana's struggle, her sister's sire attempts to help her, and her grief at Sadhana's eventual passing, but it is also about so much more. It is about Beena's teenage pregnancy and single motherhood. It is about the death of their parents, one by one, before they were even midway through their teens. It is about Sadhana's on-off struggles, Beena's exhaustion at being her carer, their relationship and arguments and love. It is also about Sadhana's life, separate to Beena's, her secret girlfriend. It's about life overall, really. And while the anorexia is a huge part of it, it isn't the whole story.
It was written fantastically, and the opinions Beena gives on Sadhana's illness are really quite unique. She expresses her anger and frustration, and the tiring nature of caring for her sister throughout her life. She does not express the sympathy and sadness toward sufferers that is often portrayed in books.
Sometimes, I did find Beena a bit too harsh - and Sadhana, too, actually. But overall the characterisation was great, and the relationship between the girls is so complex it feels real. 4.5 stars.

Les Reynolds

Was a bit hard to get into, but ended up being a really good read.

Bone and Bread

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