A01=Gurnaik Johal
age of vice
Author_Gurnaik Johal
ben lerner
bjp story
Category=FBA
david mitchell
deepti kapoor
diaspora novel
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
family saga
folklore
generational novel
gurniak johal saraswati
heart of darkness
indian novel
nationalism
neil mukherjee
salman rushdie
short story winner
we move
yaa gyasi
zadie smith
Product details
- ISBN 9781788169493
- Weight: 314g
- Dimensions: 128 x 194mm
- Publication Date: 05 Mar 2026
- Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST 2025 * A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE INDEPENDENT, TELEGRAPH, NERVE AND GUARDIAN *
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2026
LONGLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PROSE PRIZE 2026
'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
When the waters of the Saraswati, a river of legend, start to rise in a corner of northern India, seven scattered descendants of a forbidden marriage are unexpectedly swept up in its current.
Satnam, adrift from his life in London, is drawn into a contentious scheme to restore the river. Nathu, an archaeologist, ventures from Nairobi to a dig site that might reveal artefacts of a lost civilisation. And elsewhere in former lands of empire - in Singapore, Canada, Mauritius and Pakistan - the ripples are felt across generations. Gurnaik Johal's panoramic debut deftly animates the passions that bind us to our histories and each other.
'A rich tapestry, occasionally bewildering, often beguiling' THE NEW YORK TIMES
Gurnaik Johal is a writer from west London. His 2022 collection We Move won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Tata Literature Live! Prize and the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize. In 2025, he was named an Observer Best New Novelist, and Saraswati, his debut novel, was nominated for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer Award, the Jhalak Prize and the RSL Ondaatje Prize.
