Congratulations to Kishwar Desai, who has just won the 2010 Costa (previously Whitbread) first novel award for Witness the Night (published by Beautiful Books), which, says the Costa citation, “explores India’s hidden female infanticide and [is] the first book of a series featuring the unconventional female protagonist, Simran Singh.”
This novel is one of my favourites from those I read and reviewed in 2010. I reviewed the book for Euro Crime, writing:
“The main character is a great invention, and I hope she’ll return. She deals with the prejudiced and patriarchal society in which she lives with humour, resolve and determination, simply refusing to bow down or accept that other people’s rules apply to her. In addition, the story of Durga’s and Sharda’s history is truly appalling, and one that can only make the reader’s blood boil. This is an excellent, no-holds-barred and moving account, with a clear moral tone that adds resonance to the whole.”
Read the rest of my Euro Crime review.
Read more about the novel, and the author, and why it won the prize, at the Costa awards website. According to the judges: “Kishwar Desai pulls off a remarkable trick, transplanting a country house murder to modern day India in a book that’s not afraid to tackle serious themes.”
Publisher’s press release about the award.
The novel has also been reviewed at The Bookbag, Iris on Books, The Guardian (brief), and Curious Book Fans.
Petrona 
Maxine – Thanks for sharing this good news :-). Also, thanks for your fine review of the novel.
I am going to read this one for the Global Reading Challenge, and now I am looking forward to it even more.
Ditto. I am putting this on my list to read for my informal global reading challenge. I had planned on reading “Witness the Night,” after having read your review, and now that it’s won this prize, I will definitely buy it (my library doesn’t have it), in my first 2011 trip to the infamous Book Depository. And, since it won the Costa prize, my friends who don’t deign to read crime fiction, will want to borrow it–a benefit of paper books, the loan factor.
Thanks for the comments, everyone. This book isn’t what I’d call “crime fiction”, I think it is one of those books which has slightly been oriented that way perhaps to get it published or to try to sell it. It’s pretty much a “mainstream fiction” book, I think. So maybe your friends will be OK with it, Kathy 😉
Congratulations to this author and thank you to Maxine for sharing the news. This was a new author AND book to me and I immediately added it to my TBR list. It sounds important and wonderful–tragically wonderful. And I know several people to whome I will pass on the recommendation.
Also glad to have found my way here via Margot’s blog.
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
Thank you, Michele, and thank you, also, for visiting!