Saraswati

AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST 2025 A BEST BOOK OF 2025 AS FEATURED IN THE INDEPENDENT, TELEGRAPH, NERVE AND GUARDIAN 'An ambitious, stylishly delivered novel ... Reminiscent of Salman Rushdie' OBSERVER 'Johal has written a major novel, and at his very first attempt' TELEGRAPH, 5-STAR REVIEW 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. 'Saraswati is a major achievement, and Johal a huge talent. This should be one of the biggest novels of the year' Martin MacInnes, Booker-longlisted author of In Ascension