Perfect for readers of Jhumpa Lahiri and Anne Tyler, Someone You Love Is Gone is a beautifully rendered, multi-generational story of secrets and ghosts that haunt a family and will affirm Gurjinder Basran's reputation as one of Canada's rising literary stars.

Grief is a creature of many faces as Simran discovers when her mother, the lynchpin of her family, dies. Faced with the disintegration of her marriage and her estrangement from her own daughter, she struggles to make sense of her world and how things have come to be. With her mother's death, Simran is haunted by memories and questions for which she has no answers. As the life she has carefully constructed begins to unravel around her, she is forced to confront one of her most painful memories--her parents sending her younger brother away when they were children. As the past comes flooding back, she wonders what could compel her parents to turn their backs on their only son. Even her mother, who had always been very protective of her son, agreed with her husband to send him away; a decision that would have lasting consequences. Now with her mother gone, Simran must face up to these disturbing memories, and perhaps finally put her ghosts to rest.

Someone You Love Is Gone skillfully explores the ties that bind family together as well as the secrets that drive them apart. In beautifully rendered prose, award-winning author Gurjinder Basran weaves a mesmerizing tale of love and heartbreak that crosses continents and spans generations.

 

Gurjinder Basran’s debut novel, Everything Was Good-bye, was the winner of the Search for the Great BC Novel Contest in 2010 and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Award in 2011. It was chosen as a Chatelaine Book Club pick in 2012. Gurjinder studied creative writing at Simon Fraser University and the Banff Center for the Arts. The author lives in Delta, BC.