Saraswati
£9.99
Centuries ago, the holy river Saraswati flowed through what is now Punjab. Many dismiss this as myth, but when Satnam arrives in his ancestral village for his grandmother’s funeral, he finds water in the dried-up well behind her house. The discovery sets in motion a contentious scheme to unearth the lost river as an act of Hindu nationalist pride. The river changes the course of Satnam’s life, and those of six others. As legends and histories resurface, the distant relatives – from a Canadian eco-saboteur to a Mauritian pest exterminator to a Bollywood stunt double – are brought together in a rapidly changing India. Ambitious, moving and brimming with folklore, ‘Saraswati’ is a tour de force from one of Britain’s most feted young writers.
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AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST 2025SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2025A 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 REVIEWWhen 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
| Weight | 0.314 kg |
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| Dimensions | 19.4 × 12.8 × 3 cm |
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| Cover | Paperback |
| Pages | 384 |
| Language | English |
| Edition | 1st paperback ed |
| Dewey | 823.92 (edition:23) |
| Readership | General – Trade / Code: K |
