Karan Mahajan – författare

A GRANTA BEST YOUNG AMERICAN NOVELIST 2017When the Khurana boys and their friend Mansoor set out for one of Delhi's markets, disaster strikes without warning. A 'small' bomb detonates, killing the brothers instantly. Mansoor is one of the few survivors.From India to America, the lives of victims and bystanders, mothers and fathers, comrades and adversaries are changed forever. Even the young bomb maker cannot escape the heat of the blast.'I can't remember the last time I read a book which conjured a world so rich and so convincing'MARK HADDON'Brilliant... Masterful'KEVIN POWERS'Unusually wise, tender and generous'JIM CRACE'Breathtaking... Unforgettable'ADELLE WALDMAN'Packed with small wonders of beauty and heartbreak that are impossible to resist'DINAW MENGESTU

A New York Times Editors’ Choice • A New Yorker Best Book of the Year So Far • A Most Anticipated Book of 2026: The Washington Post, Vulture, Lit Hub, The Millions, Chicago Review of Books“A sweeping tale of political machinations, family drama, betrayal and social transformation.” —The New York Times’s “32 Novels We’re Excited About This Spring”“[A] magisterial performance. . . Mahajan is a confident, ambitious and increasingly important writer.”—Jonathan Dee, The New York Times Book Review“A testament to Mahajan’s genius. . . . Beautiful and unforgettable” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)A brilliant, sweeping tour de force moving between the US and modern India, following the illicit liaisons, real estate dramas, political ambitions, and mortal betrayals of one prominent Delhi family — from the author of the National Book Award finalist The Association of Small BombsIn a sprawling complex in Delhi, the sons and daughters of SP Chopra, one of India's political architects, live together vying for influence in a family shaped by the great man's legacy. By the late 1970s, his descendants are scrambling to define their own futures in a still-young nation on the brink of transformation.Sachin Chopra leaves for America, with his bride Gita following not long after, as the newlyweds are eager to forge their own lives beyond the pressures of the family compound. Yet Delhi remains an inescapable force, one that keeps pulling them back, even as Gita is menaced by Sachin’s predatory uncle, Laxman. A man of restless ambition, Laxman ascends through the ranks of a rising Hindu nationalist movement, caught between his political aspirations and his personal transgressions. Meanwhile, Vibha, his sister, tries to keep the peace and the reputation of the family intact even as she wrestles with her own exile.As India erupts in violence and long-buried secrets come to light, the embattled Chopras must reckon with the cost of power, the weight of tradition, and the shifting nature of love and allegiance. Equal parts brilliant family saga and piercing political drama, The Complex is a virtuosic novel of revenge and redemption, ambition and undoing, loyalty and love, by one of the most lauded voices in contemporary fiction.

A GRANTA BEST YOUNG AMERICAN NOVELIST 2017When the Khurana boys and their friend Mansoor set out for one of Delhi's markets, disaster strikes without warning. A 'small' bomb detonates, killing the brothers instantly. Mansoor is one of the few survivors.From India to America, the lives of victims and bystanders, mothers and fathers, comrades and adversaries are changed forever. Even the young bomb maker cannot escape the heat of the blast.'I can't remember the last time I read a book which conjured a world so rich and so convincing'MARK HADDON'Brilliant... Masterful'KEVIN POWERS'Unusually wise, tender and generous'JIM CRACE'Breathtaking... Unforgettable'ADELLE WALDMAN'Packed with small wonders of beauty and heartbreak that are impossible to resist'DINAW MENGESTU

Mr Ahuja, Delhi's Minister of Urban Development, has too much on his hands: thirteen children and another on the way. Lost among his sprawling, noisy brood he reaches out to Arjun, his eldest, and seemingly wisest, son. But Arjun has his own problems: how to tell the girl on the school bus that he's crazy about her? This uproarious debut follows father and son as they blunder their way over and under the flyovers of the megalopolis in a moving - and fast-moving - comic portrait of modern family life.

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 IN THE WASHINGTON POST, VULTURE, LIT HUB, THE MILLIONS, CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKSIn a sprawling complex in Delhi, the sons and daughters of SP Chopra, one of India's political architects, live together vying for influence in a family shaped by the great man's legacy.Sachin Chopra leaves for America, with his bride Gita following not long after, as the newlyweds are eager to forge their own lives beyond the pressures of the family compound. Yet Delhi remains an inescapable force, one that keeps pulling them back, even as Gita is menaced by Sachin's predatory uncle, Laxman. Meanwhile, Vibha, Laxman's sister, tries to keep the peace and the reputation of the family intact even as she wrestles with her own exile.As India erupts in violence and long-buried secrets come to light, the embattled Chopras must reckon with the cost of power, the weight of tradition and the shifting nature of love and allegiance. Equal parts brilliant family saga and piercing political drama, The Complex is a virtuosic novel of revenge and redemption, ambition and undoing, loyalty and love, by a lauded voice in contemporary fiction.