This is a book that does make me proud to be Canadian. Canada has been so fortunate to have talented writers immigrate to the country. But this book wasn't written by one of them; Saleema Nawaz was born and raised in our country's capital, Ottawa. Her father was an immigrant to Canada from India but he was absent when she was growing up so he couldn't have been much of an influence. Perhaps Saleema was just born with a writing gene because Wikipedia says she was interested in writing fiction as early as first grade. Whatever the reason she is a gifted fiction writer.

This is the story of two sisters, Beena and Sadhana. Their Sikh father ran a bagel shop in the middle of a Hasidic neighbourhood in Montreal. When he died of a heart attack when the girls were young they stayed on above the bagel shop with their mother who was Irish. Their father's brother took over running the shop and supported the girls and their mother. Then their mother died of choking and Uncle had to move into the apartment. Beena fell in love with one of the young lads that worked in the bagel shop and got pregnant. The sperm donor absented himself as soon as he learned about the pregnancy. Beena kept the child, a boy named Quinn, and raised him with Sadhana's help. Sadhana had her own problems as she was anorexic. She frequently had to be hospitalized but she was devoted to Beena and Quinn. We learn all this from an adult Beena who is trying to come to terms with Sadhana's death. Beena and Quinn now live in Ottawa while Sadhana stayed in Montreal. Quinn will be returning to Montreal for university and Beena has to clean out Sadhana's apartment. While doing this she learns things about Sadhana that she hadn't known but now she thinks she understands her sister a little better. Perhaps that all we can hope for with our family members.

I am glad I read the Wikipedia article on the author because I learned she has a connection to Winnipeg. She attended the University of Manitoba for her M.A. and she won the Robert Kroesch award for Best Creative Thesis in 2006 for her novella The White Dress. It would have been nice if this information had been included in the author bio in the book. ( )

Compelling and beautifully written. Nawaz accomplishes a tremendous feat by making her difficult and controlling main character's internal voice so realistic, and so reasonable, that she is constantly surprised to find out how negatively (some) other people see her.

Two sisters, having grown up amidst constant loss and change, are alternately suffocatingly close and unbearably distant over the course of this story. Both are fully realized and well-rounded characters struggling to live happy lives. The dialogue is extraordinary--so human it seemed it must have been recorded from real-life conversations. I couldn't put it down. ( )

This was a tough book to read. The story is told in flashbacks and Sadhana, one of the main characters has died. The main characters, Sadhana and Beena are sisters with the same birthdate, but born 2 years apart. Their parents have died while they are still young so they were raised by their uncle, who really did not know what to do with them. He ran their father's bagel shop. The story follows Sahana and Beena while they are growing up in Montreal and then when Beena and her son Quinn move to Ottawa. The illnesses and demons this family deal with are heartbreaking. When Beena eventually finds out what happened to Sadhana at the end of her life, she is devastated. The ending is a culmination of what Sadhana, Quinn and Beena have been working toward throughout the book. It is a family drama that is extremely melancholy. The writing is wonderful and the story is well told. A wonderful debut novel with a lot of issues that are relevant today. ( )

Bone & Bread is a novel about two sisters. The story is told from the main character Beena’s perspective as an adult. Her mother, father, and most recently her younger sister Sahana has passed leaving only her,her son Quinn, and uncle as her last living relatives. Beena is still reeling over the loss of her younger sister and so is her son (since they were very close), their house has an emptiness to it even though Sadhana never lived at their residence.

The book alternates in the present and past as Beena finds herself revisiting old memories. The time differences were a bit jarring at first when the story starts out, but over the course of a couple of chapters it reads a lot smoother. Sadhana is the more outspoken sister out of the two. She’s very opinionated and outgoing unlike her sister Beena who tends to be quieter and keeps to her self. These stark differences helps to cement their characters and readers see how over time how their clashing personalities, start to put a strain on their relationship as well as certain events.

I enjoyed reading the backstories and the characters feel developed though most of the story takes place in the past. It’s engrossing, and I thought it was very interesting how the author explores the family dynamic and the transition of the sisters lives due to death or life events. On top of the family dynamic, Nalwaz also opens up a powerful discussion on topics such as race separatism, religion, immigration, and mental illness. Instead of taking on so many topics, I wish she had focused on just a few as it felt like she was trying to tackle too much in one story.

While I liked this novel, it was a little too slow-moving for my tastes. Plus the story tended to drag at times. Overall, I still recommend this novel if you like slower-paced, family-centered stories.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair an honest review. ( )

Set mostly in Montreal, this novel tells the story of two sisters, Beena and Sadhana, who lose their (Sikh) father when they are infants and then their (hippie Irish American) mother when they are young teenagers. They are then raised by their uncle, still in the apartment above the family bagel shop. At 16 Beena becomes pregnant and Sadhana is hospitalized with anorexia for the first time.

At the beginning of the book we learn that Sadhana has just died and Beena and her son Quinn, now living in Ottawa, are struggling to come to terms with this. Each chapter is partly in the present of the need to clear out Sadhana's flat and Quinn's desire to meet his father, and partly describes the girls' childhood and teenage years and so on up to the present.

I have mixed feelings about this story. I found it generally interesting, although it was longer than it needed to be and dragged in the middle. Beena was a very passive, closed-off character, who seemed to believe people were unknowable and hard to get close to, but it seemed to me that she avoided ever being direct or straightforward with anyone. Her relationship with Sadhana was well-described and believable; the love and the hate and the inter-connectedness. On the other hand, the refugee story seemed tacked-on to make the story more relevant or something; I would have been more interested in hearing about the sisters' experiences of being partly Sikh.

Sad and well-written, but I wouldn't read it again. ( )