Printable version

Penguin acquires paperback rights to Gurjinder Basran's EVERYTHING WAS GOOD-BYE

Toronto (September 8, 2011) – Shima Aoki, Paperback Editor at Penguin Canada has acquired the debut novel of Gurjinder Basran, EVERYTHING WAS GOOD-BYE, one of the leading contenders in this year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize Readers Choice Contest.  

Originally published by Mother Tongue Publishing, EVERYTHING WAS GOOD-BYE and its author have been quietly earning accolades and press coverage, winning the 2011 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and named a semi-finalist for the 2008 Amazon.com Breakthough Novel Award. Gurjinder Basran was included in a Vancouver Sun “Ones to Watch” list in 2008.

Says Aoki: “This is truly an unforgettable story, heartbreaking and beautiful. It looks at how we deal with the many facets of our lives—how do we define ourselves when we are made up of so many different fragments from our world? It is also a uniquely Canadian story, one that we see played out in our multicultural society about the struggle between first and second generation Canadians and the complexities of balancing different cultural values.”

EVERYTHING WAS GOOD-BYE is narrated by a young Indo-Canadian woman named Meena who is struggling to find her place in the world. Her family immigrates to Canada when she is quite young, and has to overcome a number of difficulties, not the least of which is the death of her father who is killed in a workplace accident. Her mother is left to raise six daughters on her own. As a restless and headstrong teenager, Meena knows that the freedom experienced by her Canadian peers is beyond her reach. But unlike her older sisters, Meena refuses to accept a life that is defined by an arranged marriage. She befriends a young man named Liam, a social outcast and kindred spirit, who asks her to run away with him. As she weighs her decision carefully, she learns that she is too late—he has already left without a trace. Faced with increasing pressure from her family and her tight-knit community, Meena must confront the expectations placed on her, and with them, all the rippling consequences that follow. 

Penguin will publish the novel in November 2011 with a reading group guide. The deal was arranged with Mona Fertig, publisher of Mother Tongue Publishing, with the assistance of John Pearce of Westwood Creative Artists.  

For further information on the author, visit www.gurjinderbasran.com