Overview

• Desai’s first novel in nearly two decades has been published to strong early reviews from major outlets including the New York Times and Scroll.in.
• The book is longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, with the shortlist due to be announced on September 23.
• Reviewers describe the nearly 700-page novel as meticulously crafted, praising Desai’s empathetic prose and richly drawn minor characters.
• The story follows Sonia and Sunny through interlinked family lives that probe immigration, race, gender and power across the 1990s and early 2000s.
• Published by Penguin Random House, the novel frames loneliness as a cultural and political condition rather than a purely personal feeling.