Uprising
Tahmima Anam
Available as Hardback, eBook
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
ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION FINALIST 2026
A 2026 BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN THE OBSERVER, FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN
‘A miracle’ SALMAN RUSHDIE
‘Captivating, gripped me from the first page’ ELIF SHAFAK
‘An unflinching, violent storm of a novel’ TASH AW
‘Profound … Anam’s best work yet’ Financial Times
‘Unwaveringly political and unflinchingly forthright’ Guardian
‘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 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
“Anam’s prose – a blend of rhapsody and cackling coarseness – is crystalline … Uprising is only a slim volume, but it throbs with mesmeric power”
telegraph
“Dark, intense and powerful, this is a heart-breaking story … Uprising will leave you breathless”
Orwell Prize For Political Fiction Judges
“An incantatory and fiery new novel of female defiance … Uprising is a feminist novel and a protest novel. It is a coming-of-age novel, and a response to the climate crisis; a story of sisterhood … Unwaveringly political and unflinchingly forthright. Anam shows the power of rage and radical hope. A new world can burn bright from the fires of injustice – and here, it’s the mothers that hold the match”
guardian
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.