A Burning

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE JOHN LEONARD AWARD FOR BEST FIRST BOOK

FINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION

For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise–to the middle class, to politcal power, to fame in the movies–and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India.

Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party, and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan’s fall. Lovely–an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humour–has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear.

Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning has the force of an epic while being so masterfully compressed it can be read in a single sitting. Majumdar writes with dazzling assurance at a breakneck pace on complex themes that read here as the components of a thriller: class, fate, corruption, justice, and what it feels like to face profound obstacles and yet nurture big dreams in a country spinning toward extremism. This novel is a debut of exceptional power and urgency, haunting and beautiful, brutal, vibrant, impossible to forget.