Ryhaan Shah

A Silent Life is the story of the journey of the life of a girl from a village in Guyana, from the time she is a child to the stage where she is a mother of two teenage boys. Although the story is woven around four generations of Muslim characters, Shah invokes the Hindu concept of the time as circular, rather than linear. This structure moves the plot smoothly with the story ending where it begins, with Aleyah returning home to her family and grandmother. This novel is a perfect blend of poetry and prose, dream and reality, fact and fantasy. Ryhaan Shah is among the best writers in Guyana and the Caribbean. She can be considered the Toni Morrison of the Caribbean and indeed, A Silent Life; can be compared to Morisson’s 1998 novel Beloved.

Kumar Mahabir

is a full-time anthropologist at the University of Guyana (UG) and Fellow of The Eccles Centre for American Studies, British Library (2022-23). He is a former Assistant Professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). He obtained his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida (UF). As a doctoral student, he won a Florida Caribbean Institute Award, an A. Curtis Wilgus Grant, and an Organization of American States (OAS) Fellowship.
Mahabir received a National Award (Hummingbird Silver Medal) for his contribution to education in his country in 2011. He was among 50 recipients who received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the UWI Alumni Association.
Mahabir is the author of 12 books to date.

A Silent Life [a novel]

Ryhaan Shah

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