Anjali Joseph – författare

A tremendous first novel from an exciting young author.Feted for its electric chaos, the city of Bombay also accommodates pockets of calm. In one such enclave, Mohan, a middle-aged letter writer – the last of a dying profession – sits under a banyan tree in Fort, furnishing missives for village migrants, disenchanted lovers, and when pickings are slim, filling in money order forms. But Mohan's true passion is collecting second-hand books; he's particularly attached to novels with marginal annotations. So when the pavement booksellers of Fort are summarily evicted, Mohan's life starts to lose some of its animating lustre. At this tenuous moment Mohan – and his wife, Lakshmi – are joined in Saraswati Park, a suburban housing colony, by their nephew, Ashish, a diffident, sexually uncertain 19-year-old who has to repeat his final year in college.As Saraswati Park unfolds, the lives of each of the three characters are thrown into sharp relief by the comical frustrations of family life: annoying relatives, unspoken yearnings and unheard grievances. When Lakshmi loses her only brother, she leaves Bombay for a relative's home to mourn not only the death of a sibling but also the vital force of her marriage. Ashish, meanwhile, embarks on an affair with a much richer boy in his college; it ends abruptly. Not long afterwards, he succumbs to the overtures of his English tutor, Narayan.As Mohan scribbles away in the sort of books he secretly hopes to write one day, he worries about whether his wife will return, what will become of Ashish's life, and if he himself will ever find his own voice to write from the margins about the centre of which he will never be a part. Elliptical and enigmatic, but beautifully rendered and wonderfully involving, Saraswati Park is a book about love and loss and the noise in our heads – and how, in spite of everything, life, both lived and imagined, continues.

Longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, this is a superb second novel from the author of the multiple-award winning ‘Saraswati Park’.Twenty-something Leela is trying to figure out what to do next, who to fall in love with and where she belongs in the world. The problem is that no matter where she goes – Paris, London, Bombay – or what she does – teaching or temping, dating or committing – life doesn’t appear to offer any straightforward answers.A poignant, evocative journey over two continents and through the adult spheres of work, sex and convenient friendships, Another Country is about growing up, moving on and discovering that what you really want is very different from what you thought it would be.

Longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, this is a superb second novel from the author of the multiple-award winning `Saraswati Park’.Paris, London, Bombay: three cities form a backdrop to a journey through Leela’s twenties at the dawn of the new millennium, as she learns to negotiate the world, work, relationships and sex, and find some measure of authenticity.Sharp, funny, and melancholy, Another Country brings a cool eye to friendship, love, and the idea of belonging to a place or another person. As with her debut, the Desmond Elliott Prize-winning Saraswati Park, Anjali Joseph’s beautiful, clear writing captures exactly the anxieties of a young woman searching for her role in the world, and the places in which she goes looking.

A tender, lyrical novel from the author of the prize winning Saraswati Park, which offers profound insights into everyday life, capturing its simultaneous tedium and beauty.The simple sweetness of being hungover and not able to think; the sadness as the electric lights come on and the air holds the smell of dhoop and wood smoke; the way a funeral can feel like a film premiere; the way certain words – beer garden, holiday home – tell you you’re meant to be having a good time; the way a catastrophe removes that terrible sadness children feel on a cloudy summer day looking at line of trees waiting just waiting for something to happen.Feelings so common, so universal, that they are rarely thought about are, in this superb novel, given centre stage, described with great accuracy, lyrical beauty and heartbreaking poignancy.They are felt by two characters. Claire is a single mum working in one of England’s last remaining shoe factories in Norwich. Her life hasn’t worked out quite as she hoped. Arun is an elderly Indian man who still makes chappals by hand. A recovering alcoholic, he is settling into old age. A novel about dying industries, families and ordinary life, THE LIVING reveals the often overlooked beauty in our everyday vocabulary and everyday life.

LONGLISTED FOR THE DSC PRIZE FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE 2017In this tender, lyrical, and often funny novel, Anjali Joseph, author of Saraswati Park, shines a light on everyday life, illuminating its humour, beauty, and truth.There is a certain number of breaths each of us have to take, and no amount of care or carelessness can alter that.This is the story of two lives. Claire is a young single mother working in one of England’s last remaining shoe factories, her adult life formed by a teenage relationship. Is she ready to move on from memory and the routine of her days? Arun makes hand-sewn chappals at his home in Kolhapur. A recovered alcoholic, now a grandfather, he negotiates the newfound indignities of old age while returning in thought to the extramarital affair he had years earlier.These are lives woven through with the ongoing discipline of work and the responsibility and tedium of family life. Lives laced with the joys of friendship, the pleasure of sex, and the redemptive kindness of one’s own children. This is the story of the living.In this tender, lyrical and often funny novel, Anajli Joseph, author of Saraswati Park, shines a light on everyday life, illuminating its humour, beauty, and truth.

A taster of some of the brightest and best new novels from the rising stars of fiction.From a time-bending love story to an Irish political drama, from a big American book about talent on the pitch to a hedonistic coming-of-age tale, there is something in here to suit all readers of really good novels. Championed by bestselling authors such as Hilary Mantel, Tash Aw and Patrick Gale, this collection is proudly bought to you by Fourth Estate.

A taster of some of the brightest and best new novels from the rising stars of fiction.From a time-bending love story to an Irish political drama, from a big American book about talent on the pitch to a hedonistic coming-of-age tale, there is something in here to suit all readers of really good novels. Championed by bestselling authors such as Hilary Mantel, Tash Aw and Patrick Gale, this collection is proudly bought to you by Fourth Estate.

A taster of some of the brightest and best new novels from the rising stars of fiction.From a time-bending love story to an Irish political drama, from a big American book about talent on the pitch to a hedonistic coming-of-age tale, there is something in here to suit all readers of really good novels. Championed by bestselling authors such as Hilary Mantel, Tash Aw and Patrick Gale, this collection is proudly bought to you by Fourth Estate.

LONGLISTED FOR THE DSC PRIZE FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE 2017In this tender, lyrical, and often funny novel, Anjali Joseph, author of Saraswati Park, shines a light on everyday life, illuminating its humour, beauty, and truth.There is a certain number of breaths each of us have to take, and no amount of care or carelessness can alter that.This is the story of two lives. Claire is a young single mother working in one of England’s last remaining shoe factories, her adult life formed by a teenage relationship. Is she ready to move on from memory and the routine of her days? Arun makes hand-sewn chappals at his home in Kolhapur. A recovered alcoholic, now a grandfather, he negotiates the newfound indignities of old age while returning in thought to the extramarital affair he had years earlier.These are lives woven through with the ongoing discipline of work and the responsibility and tedium of family life. Lives laced with the joys of friendship, the pleasure of sex, and the redemptive kindness of one’s own children. This is the story of the living.In this tender, lyrical and often funny novel, Anajli Joseph, author of Saraswati Park, shines a light on everyday life, illuminating its humour, beauty, and truth.