Like a Diamond in the Sky
By Shazia Omar
Blurb:
At Twenty-One, Deen is dismayed by the poverty around him. Trapped in negativity, alienated from family and society, heroin is his drug of choice. Deen and his partner in crime, AJ, ride high on acid and amphetamines, philosophize in the university canteen, party in a politician’s posh pad and contemplate God at a roadside tea stall.
From Maria, a chemically imbalanced diva, to a rickshaw wallah who reflects on the importance of positive energy, from a group of fakirs who sing about love, to a detective who has his own take on addiction, the characters in Shazia Omar’s novel crackle with life. They represent the despair, hopes and aspirations of a generation struggling to survive the harsh realities of life in modern Dhaka.
Bio:
Shazia Omar is a writer, activist and yogini. She has written two novels (Like a Diamond in the Sky, Penguin India 2009 and Dark Diamond, Bloomsbury India 2016) and a mind, body, spirit book (Intentional Smile: A Girl’s Guide to Positive Living, Bloomsbury 2016). She writes a column for The Daily Star (“Kundalini Rising”). Shazia is a certified yoga instructor who has been teaching Ashtanga Yoga and Pilates for 15 years. She completed her undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College, USA and her Masters in Social Psychology at LSE, UK.