Synopsis
'Remarkable' – Ian McEwan
Shortlisted for Hearsts' Big Book Award 2018.
Set in 2003 in the sweltering heat of Singapore, Sharlene Teo's Ponti begins as sixteen-year-olds Szu and Circe develop an intense friendship. For Szu it offers an escape from Amisa, her beautiful, cruel mother – once an actress, and now the silent occupant of a rusty house. But for Circe, their friendship does the opposite, bringing her one step closer to the fascinating, unknowable Amisa.
Seventeen years later, Circe finds herself adrift and alone. And then a project comes up at work, a remake of the cult seventies horror film series ‘Ponti’, the same series that defined Amisa’s short-lived film career. Suddenly Circe is knocked off balance: by memories of the two women she once knew, by guilt, and by a lost friendship that threatens her conscience . . .
Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2019.
Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Fiction, with a Sense of Place Award.
Details
18 April 2019
9781509855339Reviews
Remarkable . . . her characters glow with life and humour and minutely observed desperation
A radiant, achingly beautiful novel about relationships between women
A triumph: a nuanced examination of betrayal and grief, memory and the corrupting effects of beauty
Ponti is one of the more assured debuts I’ve read recently . . . it’s the rare, real deal and Teo’s a writer we’ll be reading for many years to come
