A "Globe 100" Best Book of the Year (The Globe and Mail)

Lambda Literary Award finalist

In the beginning, there is no he. There is no she.

Two cells make up one cell. This is the mathematics behind creation. One plus one makes one. Life begets life. We are the period to a sentence, the effect to a cause, always belonging to someone. We are never our own.

This is why we are so lonely.

She of the Mountains is a beautifully rendered illustrated novel by Vivek Shraya, the author of the Lambda Literary Award finalist God Loves Hair. Shraya weaves a passionate, contemporary love story between a man and his body, with a re-imagining of Hindu mythology. Both narratives explore the complexities of embodiment and the damaging effects that policing gender and sexuality can have on the human heart.

The illustrations are by Raymond Biesinger, whose work has appeared in such publications as The New Yorker and the New York Times.

Vivek Shraya is the author of the young-adult collection God Loves Hair, the novel She of the Mountains, the poetry book even this page is white, and the children's picture book (with Rajni Perera) The Boy & the Bindi (all published by Arsenal Pulp Press), as well as I'm Afraid of Men and What I Love About Being QUEER. She is editor of the Arsenal Pulp Press imprint VS. Books, dedicated to work by young black, Indigenous, and writers of colour. Vivek was the 2014 recipient of the Steinert & Ferreiro Award for leadership in Toronto's LGBTQ community, the recipient of Anokhi Media's inaugural Most Promising LGBTQ Community Crusader Award in 2015, a 2015 Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award finalist, and a 2015 recipient of the Writers' Trust of Canada's Dayne Ogilvie Prize Honour of Distinction. Originally from Edmonton, she now lives in Calgary, where she is an assistant professor in the University of Calgary's Department of English.

Vivek Shraya's profile page

Raymond Biesinger is an acclaimed Montréal artist whose work has been published in the New Yorker, the Guardian, and Time magazine.

Raymond Biesinger's profile page

• Short-listed, Lambda Literary Award

Vivek Shraya's intimate novel weaves together a contemporary love story with Hindu mythology, incorporating strikingly bold illustrations from Raymond Biesinger. This is a book for readers who want to be taken on an artistic ride. -The Advocate

She of the Mountains is a treatise to epic love. Shraya's prose is deft and lyrical, and shape-shifts like his characters' bodies and desires - both otherworldly and human. This is a book that is full of heart, and mine sank and lifted with each turn of the page. -Farzana Doctor, author of Six Metres of Pavement and Stealing Nasreen

A cathartic tale simply told. -The Globe and Mail ("The Globe 100")

Given the intersection of Vivek Shraya's writing and his music up till now, it should come as no surprise that his newest book is an equally compelling fusion of stories, voices, and textures. She of the Mountains is a touching and transporting prose-poem that has a music all its own. -Rakesh Satyal, author of Blue Boy

Vivek Shraya seamlessly blends a lyrical interpretation of Hindu mythology with a contemporary coming-of-age tale ... Studded with abstract illustrations by Raymond Biesinger, Shraya's book is accessible, yet complex. There is the sense that what he achieves with She of the Mountains is so new, we don't have the proper language to articulate its success. The ultimate hope is that this work will pave the way for more of its ilk, and provide this country and culture with a robust look at identity and its inherent fluidity. -Quill and Quire (STARRED REVIEW)

The Hindu gods, with their constantly shifting personas and manifestations, add a clever and thoughtful layer to the novel and highlight the intricacies and power of a love that eclipses gender, time, and conventions. Strikingly illustrated by Raymond Biesinger, this is a lyrical ode to love in all its many forms. -Publishers Weekly

Vivek's latest - and most beautiful - work is a truly remarkable, mesmerizing journey. I feel like I've uncovered a whole other side to him. One of the brightest new writing talents to come out of Canada.
-Tegan Quin, of Tegan and Sara

She of the Mountains is a wonderfully textured book that knows better than to offer hasty answers about identity - rather Shraya draws us into a series of highly poetic and hyper-intimate scenes that allows us to feel and explore for ourselves.
-Amber Dawn, author of Sub Rosa and How Poetry Saved My Life

She of the Mountains weaves together a young man's journey with Hindu mythology, creating a sophisticated and whimsical tale -- a poignant capturing of the search for wholeness, whether on a human or superhuman level. -Shyam Selvadurai, author of The Hungry Ghosts

She of the Mountains is a forthright, honest, damned sexy book written, gleefully and counter-intuitively, in a lyrical, epic, transcendent style. It is not your typical debut novel, but rather one ripped apart at the spine and then reconfigured via alchemy, Tantric mysticism, the open verse of social media, and pure, raw talent. Sensual, smart (and smart-assed), She of the Mountains is the beginning of something big, bold, and - hold your purse! - glamorous. -R.M. Vaughan, author of Compared To Hitler