Recorded at the 2017 Brisbane Writers Festival Anosh Irani speaks to Sarah Kanowski about finding surprising grace in the story of his novel The Parcel (Scribe Publications) despite its challenging savagery.
The Parcel delves into a part of Bombay rarely explored, the red light district. Anosh knows it well as he grew up near the area most known for the Hjira, a community described as India's third sex, eunuchs.
In the novel Madhu, a Hjira is approaching middle age and is less popular as a sex worker. So she is asked to care for a 'parcel', a ten year old girl.