Winner of the 2022 ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize, Untethered is a finely observed debut novel of a young Muslim woman’s experience of immigration to Australia from Sri Lankan-Australian writer Ayesha Inoon.
Zia secretly longs to go to university, but as a young woman in a traditional Muslim family, she does what is expected of her and agrees to an arranged marriage to Rashid, a man she barely knows. Cocooned by the wealth and customs of her family, Rashid’s dark moods create only the smallest of ripples in their early life together.
When growing political unrest spurs them to leave Sri Lanka and immigrate to Australia, Zia is torn between fear of leaving her beloved family and the possibility of new freedoms. While on paper their new country welcomes them with open arms, their visas come with many restrictions. For the first time Zia faces isolation, poverty and an increasingly unstable marriage that forms a cage stronger than any she’s known before.
Determined to carve a place for herself in this new country, Zia sets out on uncertain terrain and discovers friendship, devastating loss and hope for a different future – one that asks her to consider not just who she is, but who she might become.
Partially drawn from her own experiences, debut author Ayesha Inoon’s novel weaves the threads of family, culture and tradition together with the uncertainty and freedom of starting anew to create a complex tapestry of identity, resilience and hope.
Inoon is a Sri Lankan-Australian writer with a unique cultural perspective, which she brings to her writing. She’s the winner of the 2022 ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize, and was a recipient of the inaugural 2019 Penguin Random House Write It Fellowship for an early draft of Untethered, now a finely observed debut novel.
Untethered is not only an engaging read by a highly talented original voice, it’s a revelation. Taking the universal theme of leaving one life to begin another, Inoon steeps it in true life experience, lifting this novel into a call from the soul.
Zia is a deeply relatable character. We’re with her through her arranged marriage to Rashid, and we’re with her when she forgets to wear her hijab. We’re with her as she raises her spirited daughter, and we’re deeply with her as she lands in the completely foreign land of Canberra, Australia. There, Zia grapples with releasing her former life – the only one she’s ever known – to embrace the uncertainty of another.
Untethered is a heartfelt study of resilience, not just of uprooting and relocating, but also the resilience of spirit in an intimate relationship where mental illness is at play. And even more deeply, it’s the story of one woman’s resilience within herself to get herself into the driver’s seat of life.
Inoon, like her heroine, is a powerhouse. Untethered is as relatable as it is compelling – its candour and compassion are inspiring. It’s a novel that will remain with you long after you finish the last page… and a desire to send Zia a text to see what she’s doing now.
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