A Girl Called Eel

Ali Zamir author Aneesa Abbas Higgins translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd

Published:6th Jun '19

£8.99

Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.

A Girl Called Eel cover

"It is rare to say about a book that you have never read anything like it, and this is one such case." Elle

"A pure diamond, a magnificent event. A mind-blowing debut novel." Le Point


Eel is a 17-year-old girl who leaves her rock on the archipelago of Comoros to lose herself at sea. She drifts between two states of mind and between two islands 'in a hollow maze', evoking her memories so as to forget nothing and so as to delay the inevitable outcome.

Confronted with the pressing immediacy of imminent death, Eel recounts the story of her whole life in one long, sustained breath, in a series of brief couplets.

A story told in a single sentence, A Girl Called Eel is a memorial, a reckoning, and a powerful narrative imbued with a prevailing sense of urgency.

  • Winner of PEN award 2019 (UK)

ISBN: 9781909762817

Dimensions: 196mm x 126mm x 18mm

Weight: 320g

271 pages