Arshi

In Mona Arshi’s debut novel, which has been shortlisted for the Goldsmiths prize (the winner is announced next week), a British-Indian girl named Ruby suddenly stops speaking. She recalls how, after a teacher asked her a question at school, “I opened my mouth as a sort of formality but closed it softly, knowing with perfect certainty that nothing would ever come out again.” Ruby is tested for aural dysfunction, assorted viruses and “general stupidity”, and shrugs off the efforts of peers, teachers and her therapist to…