Kiran Desai’s new novel makes it to the Booker Prize 2025 longlist. Here’s a sneak peek into it and a quick dive into her earlier works of fiction
Kiran Desai
The 2006 Man Booker Prize winner Kiran Desai is on the longlist for this year’s Booker Prize for her new novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (India Hamish Hamilton). Other books in the list include Audition by Katie Kitamura, One Boat by Jonathan Buckley, The South by Tash Aw, Love Forms by Claire Adam, Endling by Maria Rewa, and Flashlight by Susan Choi, among others. This is Desai’s first book of fiction in 19 years since the publication of The Inheritance of Loss. The judges observed Desai’s writing as one that, “moves with consummate fluency between an array of modes: philosophical, comic, earnest, emotional and uncanny”.
The book will be released in India in September 2025.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny: The book explores the in-between spaces inhabited by individuals of the modern world, in search of identity, personal history, and connections with their family. Sonia is an aspiring novelist who yearns to return to India after completing her studies in Vermont. Sunny is a journalist, struggling to make ends meet in New York, and longing to escape his domineering mother and his warring clan. They find each other on a train ride, and are instantly drawn to each other. The novel explores how they navigate their way through conflicting forces and embark on a journey to find happiness and a sense of belonging.
Pre-order at: Penguin India; penguin.co.in
Also read
1 The Inheritance of Loss: Sai’s grandfather Jemubhai Patel wishes to retire as a judge amidst the tranquillity of Kalimpong. However, things take a turn when Sai appears at his door. Set in the mid-1980s, the story revolves around the lives of the characters inhabiting Jemubhai’s dilapidated house — Sai, Jemubhai, and the cook — and the cook’s son Biju, who is an undocumented immigrant in New York. Desai explores the aftermath of colonialism in each of their lives. Jemubhai continues to carry the sour aftertaste of the treatment he received by the English as a student. Meanwhile, Biju’s letters home conceal the realities of his everyday struggle, as he hops from one job to another. The novel is set against the backdrop of the Gorkhaland movement, led by the Nepali-speaking population of the Darjeeling Hills, seeking an independent state for the Gorkha minority group.
Pic courtesy/Penguin Random House
2 Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: Desai’s debut novel was published in 1998, about eight years before her Booker Prize-winning second novel, The Inheritance of Loss. It explores the life of Sampath Chawla, a resident of the village of Shahkot, who is said to have brought luck, as his birth breaks the long spell of drought in the village. After two decades of trying, he finds himself falling short of the greatness he was destined for. One day, ambling in search of a quiet place to sleep, away from the loud snores of his family, he comes across a guava tree. It paves the way for his future. He sits in its embrace, and transforms into a holy man, dispensing fabricated tales and ambiguous answers to his customers. Can Sampath and his business survive the hullabaloo caused by troublesome monkeys and the town officials?
Available: Leading bookstores and e-stores
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