Mauritian author Priya Hein is set to release a new novel Tamarin (The Indigo Press) on September 25, 2025!

This heart-wrenching novel is set on Hein’s native country of Mauritius and explores how the island’s breathtaking beauty is marred by a history of violence. From the publisher:

Tamarin Bay, Mauritius, is a travel agent’s paradise: a tropical ocean, fishermen unloading their daily catch, children building sandcastles, surfers riding giant waves. But just along the shoreline is the beach of La Preneuse, known as the taker of souls. The island is haunted with tragedy and the remnants of colonial rule. But it is also home, where Anita Ram longs to be following the collapse of her marriage. After enduring a shocking betrayal and the sexism and racism of a cold Britain in the early twenty-first century, she finds comfort in simple things; her mother’s cooking, her childhood bedroom, and a handsome architect. Will these be enough for Anita to find happiness again, or will the ghosts of her past consume her?

This forthcoming release has already generated buzz in the literary world. Trinidadian author Celeste Mohammed offered her praise:

The narrative of ‘some exotic girl from a faraway island’ could have easily fallen into cliché in the hands of a lesser writer. But in Tamarin, Priya Hein tells the story with such bravery, candor, and evocative detail that I often mistook it for a true account. Her Mauritius mirrors my Trinidad in ways that felt both familiar and thrilling to explore. Women everywhere will see themselves—their deepest loves and betrayals, and their most delicate relationships—reflected in these pages.

We are so excited to read this complex and emotionally attentive new book!

Priya Hein is a Mauritian author whose first novel Riambel won the Prix Athéna 2023 and The Jean-Fanchette Prize 2021. She was nominated for the 2017 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, shortlisted for the Prix de l’Atelier Littéraire in 2021 and the Miles Morland Scholarship in 2023, and participated in the 2024 Iowa IWP fall residency. Priya lives in Mauritius with her family.

Pre-order your copy of Tamarin here!