Burning, A

Description: 'Immaculately constructed, acidly observed and gripping from start to finish, A Burning is a brilliant debut.' The Guardian

'Megha Majumdar's A Burning is an uncanny debut, a fierce condemnation of modern India - the corruption, racism, misogyny, the feverish obsession with celebrity - this is the antithesis of shrill. The author, although still in her early thirties, has the composure of a mature artist, and has produced a political novel that makes its wider points through the subtle, intimate exploration of three characters' lives.' Sunday Times

'This is a short, sharp shock of a novel that shows us how easy it is to rally a mob, to kill a Muslim woman and to silence a whole community. These are things we all know on paper, but the power of a great novelist - and Majumdar has a Dickensian flair and scope - is to transform what we simply know into something we can feel. What a treat to start the year with a talent as fresh as this' - The Times