An Indian author of aplomb, the youngest
ever Kiran Desai’s 2006 Man Booker win, ‘The Inheritance of Loss’, reverberates
the comeback of an author after 19 years with ‘The Loneliness of Sunny and
Sonia’. Earning a spot on the 2025 Booker Prize longlist amongst 13 other titles
around the world, if she wins, she would become the fifth author to bag the
award twice.
‘The Loneliness of Sunny and Sonia’ is
dense, making it the longest book with 650 pages. Published by Hamish Hamilton, the
novel traces parallel journeys- one in New York and the other’s recent landing in
India. In a fast-changing world, the novel addresses the themes of identity, past
family history and shaky present. Kiran Desai, author of Indian origin, talks of
displacement, a feeling of being uprooted in the cultural clash, while exploring
the themes of migration, which hinge on moments from her life. ‘Hullabaloo in
the Guava Orchard’, published in 1998, was her debut novel. Appreciated by Salman
Rushdie, she received accolades from the Society of Authors for being a citizen
under 35 from the Commonwealth countries to win the Betty Trask Award. Her second
book, ‘The Inheritance of Loss’ (2006) garnered widespread praise from critics.
Although set in the Himalayas, the impact of colonialism was felt in Asia,
Europe and the United States. It won her the Man Booker Prize in the year 2006,
the youngest-ever to win until Eleanor Catton in the year 2013.
Walking on the footprints of her mother, Anita Desai, who was nominated for the Booker Prize three times but never won, Kiran owes a debt to her mother’s storytelling—writing often in the company of her mother, whose last novella, ‘Rosarita’ set in Mexico with the duos sharing penchant of Mexican villages as writing haven. Perhaps, these escapades have gone into the making of the longlisted ‘The Loneliness of Sunny and Sonia’, waiting for its September release. We, as readers, wait for the surprise!