Latitudes of Longing

A sweeping, lyrical debut about the love and longing between humanity and the earth itself, by a major new literary talent from India

“A marvel of magical realism.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

A spellbinding work of literature, Latitudes of Longing follows the interconnected lives of characters searching for true intimacy. The novel sweeps across India, from an island, to a valley, a city, and a snow desert, to tell a love story of epic proportions. We follow a scientist who studies trees and a clairvoyant who speaks to them; a geologist working to end futile wars over a glacier; octogenarian lovers; a mother struggling to free her revolutionary son; a yeti who seeks human companionship; a turtle who transforms first into a boat and then a woman; and the ghost of an evaporated ocean as restless as the continents. Binding them all together is a vision of life as vast as the universe itself. 

A young writer awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in India for this novel, Shubhangi Swarup is a storyteller of extraordinary talent and insight. Richly imaginative and wryly perceptive, Latitudes of Longing offers a soaring view of humanity: our beauty and ugliness, our capacity to harm and love one another, and our mysterious and sacred relationship with nature.

Longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature • Shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature • Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award • Winner of the Sushila Devi Literature Award for the Best Book of Fiction Written by a Woman • Winner of the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award for Fiction