My Beloved Life

Kumar's novel "My Beloved Life" explores the life of Jadunath Kunwar, from his humble beginnings to the rise of Modi in modern India. It tells the story of India through the historical changes, and how the lives of individuals play out against the background of these changes. The novel is full of lives whose beauty lies in the wholeness of their telling, and is praised for its profoundness and truthfulness.

Format: Hardback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 30 May 2024
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

This captivating book is a treasure trove of lives, each one brimming with the beauty of its entirety. – Salman Rushdie

Kumar's late father's life unfolds like a gently rising wave, traversing the sorrowful and celebratory terrain of this narrative. – James Wood, The New Yorker

A novel that weaves the tale of modern India, revealing the story of an ordinary man through the lens of historical events, from Gandhi's passing to Modi's ascent. – Jadunath Kunwar's origins are modest, even unfortunate. His mother, while carrying him, nearly perishes from a cobra bite. As his life oscillates between the fantastical and the ordinary, Jadu discovers purpose in the most unexpected of places. He encounters the sherpa who first scaled Mount Everest. He forms friendships with poets and politicians. He becomes a historian. And he has a daughter, Jugnu, a television journalist with a career in the United States—whose perspective adds its unique hue to his tale.

Meanwhile, sweeping currents of immense transformation sweep across India—from Independence to Partition, Gandhi to Modi, the Mahabharata to Somerset Maugham, cholera to COVID—buffeting the lives of Jadu and Jugnu. – Amitava Kumar's remarkable My Beloved Life delves into the art of storytelling and historical writing, exploring how individual lives unfold against the backdrop of historical change, and how no life is devoid of significance.

This expansive novel of grand ambition and profound tenderness, explores the construction, refraction, and revision of personal and national histories. – Katie Kitamura, author of Intimacies

Weight: 454g
Dimension: 224 x 142 x 34 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781035013692