* AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST 2025* AN INDEPENDENT BEST BOOK OF 2025 * A GUARDIAN BOOK TO
LOOK FORWARD TO * 'An ambitious stylishly delivered novel ... Reminiscent of Salman
Rushdie' OBSERVER 'Johal has written a major novel and at his very first attempt ... almost
everything in Saraswati works beautifully' TELEGRAPH 5-STAR REVIEW ' 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 Centuries ago the myths say the
holy river Saraswati flowed through what is now Northern India. But when Satnam arrives in his
ancestral village for his grandmother's funeral he is astonished to find water in the long-dry
well behind her house. The discovery sets in motion a contentious scheme to unearth the lost
river and build a gleaming new city on its banks and Satnam - adrift from his job girlfriend
and flat back in London - soon finds himself swept up in this ferment of Hindu nationalist
pride. As the river alters Satnam's course so it reveals buried ties to six distant relatives
scattered across the globe - from an ambitious writer with her eye on legacy to a Kenyan
archaeologist to a Bollywood stunt double - who are brought together in a rapidly changing
India. Brimming with love lush violence and loss Gurnaik Johal's magisterial debut deftly
animates the passions that bind us to our histories our lands and each other.
