Suki

In Suki, Suniti Namjoshi weaves a witty and delightful tapestry from threads of longing, loss, memory, metaphor, and contemplation. Taken as a whole, the picture she draws is a stunning evocation of the love and friendship shared between herself and her super cat, Suki, a lilac Burmese. Suki suggests that she could be a goddess, and Namjoshi her high priestess. Namjoshi declines, but as they discuss the merits of vegetarianism, the meaning of happiness, war, morality, or just daily life, it becomes clear that the bond between them is a deep and complex one. Namjoshi figures the days of Suki’s life as leaves, which fall vividly but irrevocably into time’s stream and are recollected with a wild tenderness by a grieving Namjoshi, who learns through the discipline of meditation how to lose what is most loved.

One of the most distinctive lesbian-feminist voices of the late twentieth century, Suniti Namjoshi, best known for her many poems and fables, is highly respected as one of the pioneers of women’s writing in India. This beautiful narrative, both memoir and elegy, offers solace and celebration to everyone who has felt the trust that passes between a person and a beloved creature.

Suniti Namjoshi is an important figure in contemporary Indian literature in English. Born in Mumbai in 1941, she first wrote and published in India, then moved to Canada before settling in a small seaside village in the southwest of England with her beloved cat, Suki, and fellow writer Gillian Hanscombe.