A poignant and darkly funny exploration of grief, immigrant life, and finding community in a small New Zealand noodle shop.
In Te Whanganui-a-Tara, a young chef named Devendra obsessively juliennes carrots while grappling with his mother's death and the mounting pressures of his struggling noodle shop. As bills pile up and strangers appear in his kitchen, the ancestors watch closely, blurring the lines between reality and surrealism.
When I open the shop offers a glimpse into immigrant life in Aotearoa, blending humor, anger, and lyrical prose. This debut novel explores themes of grief, identity, and the search for belonging, culminating in a horror road trip that veers into the unexpected. Perfect for readers seeking New Zealand literary fiction, immigrant experience stories, and surreal narratives.