Translated in 1996 but not published until 2013, possibly the only novel of Ma Ju’s available in English. The Other Side of the Wall follows Nhaung Khin Zaw, a young woman who predicts her death will come on her 24th birthday and her slide into depression as the date nears. She strikes a friendship with Doctor Cie, a psychiatrist, who questions Nhaung’s premonition and attempts to convince her of the life she still has to live. Sheila Nath Desmond’s translation skilfully tackles a complicated story of death, despair and faith.
Title: The Other Side of the Wall
Author: Ma Ju,
Translator: Sheila Nath Desmond
Publisher: Ju Publishing House
Published: 2013
(Sadaik Shorts is a series of very short reviews of fiction and non-fiction from Myanmar writers in English)
