Uprising
Tahmima Anam
Available as Hardback, eBook
21 May 2026
A rebellion ignites amongst a community of sex workers on an isolated island in this fiercely moving novel – inspired by the real women of Banishanta, Bangladesh
A 2026 BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN THE OBSERVER, FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN
‘Captivating, gripped me from the first page’ ELIF SHAFAK
‘An unflinching, violent storm of a novel’ TASH AW
‘Extraordinary’ SALMAN RUSHDIE
‘A dark, brazen fairytale’ LEILA ABOULELA
‘Part holy legend, part undeniable, illuminating prophecy of how we will overcome’ V.V. GANESHANANTHAN
Any moment now, we would grow up, and we would become them, waking late and hungry and with a job that had no name
On a desolate, sinking island, a group of children witness their mothers living lives of cruelty and servitude.
Bought and sold by Amma, the sadistic madam who was once herself sold into slavery, the women have learned to accept their fate. Yet their children weave fantastic tales of escape, imagining that someday they will leave the island and enjoy a life of freedom.
When Kusum Khan, a young, educated woman from the city, is forcibly brought to the island, she too is subjected to Amma’s violent induction. Yet Kusum refuses to yield, and soon the collective complacency of her fellow prisoners turns into a ferocity and defiance. Together, they begin a rebellion that will upend their island, their world and the very order of things.
An earth-shattering drama of resistance and female power, Uprising gives voice to the silenced through the story of a revolution no one saw coming.
“Captivating, gripped me from the first page and when I finished my heart was full”
Elif Shafak
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“Tahmima Anam has written a kind of miracle. She has taken lives of awful hardship and woven from them a fable of terrible beauty. Uprising is extraordinary”
Salman Rushdie
“I don’t know if there’s any story I wouldn’t trust Tahmima Anam to tell. Uprising has all the ferocity and tenderness I want in a book, and Kusum is a heroine for the ages. Anam’s words, as powerful as always, show us our brutal world and open an irresistible door to the better one beyond it. Let her beckon you to your best self with this brilliant, magical novel that’s part irrefutable reality, part holy legend, part undeniable, illuminating prophecy of how we will overcome”
V.v. Ganeshananthan, Winner Of The Women’s Prize For Fiction
“An unflinching, violent storm of a novel, yet also full of humanity. It broadens our understanding of how literature can capture life in all its ugliness and glory — a magnificent achievement”
Tash Aw
“An urgent, collective-voice novel … I loved it”
Alex Preston
observer
Tahmima Anam
Tahmima Anam is the author of the Bengal trilogy and a recipient of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book and the O. Henry Award. Her short story ‘Garments’ was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. She is a Granta Best of Young British Novelist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she trained as an anthropologist at Harvard University and now lives in London.