Saraswati

AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST 2025 • A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE INDEPENDENT, TELEGRAPH, NERVE AND GUARDIAN • SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2025 • SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2025 • LONGLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PROSE PRIZE 2026 • LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2026

When the waters of the Saraswati, a river of legend, start to rise in a corner of northern India, seven scattered descendants of a forbidden marriage are unexpectedly swept up in its current.

Satnam, adrift from his life in London, is drawn into a contentious scheme to restore the river. Nathu, an archaeologist, ventures from Nairobi to a dig site that might reveal artefacts of a lost civilisation. And elsewhere in former lands of empire – in Singapore, Canada, Mauritius and Pakistan – the ripples are felt across generations. Gurnaik Johal's panoramic debut deftly animates the passions that bind us to our histories and each other.