A01=Gurnaik Johal
age of vice
Author_Gurnaik Johal
ben lerner
bjp story
Category=F
Category=FB
Category=FBA
david mitchell
deepti kapoor
diaspora novel
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
family saga
folklore
generational novel
gurniak johal saraswati
heart of darkness
india
indian novel
nationalism
neil mukherjee
salman rushdie
short story winner
we move
yaa gyasi
zadie smith
Product details
- ISBN 9781788169486
- Weight: 600g
- Dimensions: 156 x 240mm
- Publication Date: 12 Jun 2025
- Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2025
A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE INDEPENDENT, TELEGRAPH, NERVE AND GUARDIAN
'An ambitious, stylishly delivered novel ... Reminiscent of Salman Rushdie' OBSERVER
'Johal has written a major novel, and at his very first attempt' TELEGRAPH, 5-STAR REVIEW
'Saraswati is a major achievement, and Johal a huge talent. One of the biggest novels of the year' Martin MacInnes, Booker-longlisted author of In Ascension
Centuries ago, the myths say, the holy river Saraswati flowed through what is now Northern India. But when Satnam arrives in his ancestral village for his grandmother's funeral, he is astonished to find water in the long-dry well behind her house. The discovery sets in motion a contentious scheme to unearth the lost river and build a gleaming new city on its banks, and Satnam - adrift from his job, girlfriend and flat back in London - soon finds himself swept up in this ferment of Hindu nationalist pride.
As the river alters Satnam's course, so it reveals buried ties to six distant relatives scattered across the globe - from an ambitious writer with her eye on legacy to a Kenyan archaeologist to a Bollywood stunt double - who are brought together in a rapidly changing India. Brimming with love, lush, violence and loss, Gurnaik Johal's magisterial debut deftly animates the passions that bind us to our histories, our lands and each other.
Gurnaik Johal is a writer from West London. His 2022 collection We Move won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Tata Literature Live! Prize. Its opening story won the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize. Saraswati is his debut novel.
