Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota, Paperback, 9781447241669 | Buy online at The Nile
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Year of the Runaways

Author: Sunjeev Sahota  

With all the humanity of A Fine Balance, the sweep of A Suitable Boy, the atmosphere of Maps for Young Lovers and the freshness of Brick Lane, this is a novel about England and India from a staggering young talent.

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Summary

With all the humanity of A Fine Balance, the sweep of A Suitable Boy, the atmosphere of Maps for Young Lovers and the freshness of Brick Lane, this is a novel about England and India from a staggering young talent.

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Description

Shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize 'All you can do is surrender, happily, to its power' Salman Rushdie The Year of the Runaways tells of the bold dreams and daily struggles of an unlikely family thrown together by circumstance. Thirteen young men live in a house in Sheffield, each in flight from India and in desperate search of a new life. Tarlochan, a former rickshaw driver, will say nothing about his past in Bihar; and Avtar has a secret that binds him to protect the choatic Randeep. Randeep, in turn, has a visa-wife in a flat on the other side of town: a clever, devout woman whose cupboards are full of her husband's clothes, in case the immigration men surprise her with a call. Sweeping between India and England, and between childhood and the present day, this generous, unforgettable novel is - as with Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance - a story of dignity in the face of adversity and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

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Awards

Winner of Encore Award 2016 (UK)
Winner of South Bank Sky Arts Awards Literature Award 2016 (UK)
Short-listed for Man Booker Prize 2015 (UK)
Short-listed for Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award 2015 (UK)
Short-listed for International Dylan Thomas Prize 2016 (UK)

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Critic Reviews

“An ideal antidote to a year of reductive discussions of immigration, Sunjeev Sahota's novel takes you deep into the lives of a group of Indian labourers thrown together in Sheffield. Deftly shifting in time and place, Sahota builds a portrait of the often painful circumstances that lead these men to abandon life in India for this cold, damp city, in the hope of starting afresh. This is Sahota's second novel. His first, Ours Are the Streets , was an acutely observed story of a young man's shift from ordinary British Pakistani teenager to Muslim radical. The Year of the Runaways is no less accomplished in its lyrical prose and ability to immerse the reader in the experiences of a hidden community in Britain . . . It is a testament to Sahota's accomplished characterisation that he maintains sympathy with the men even after they commit crimes and take advantage of others”

A wonderfully evocative storyteller. Independent The Year of the Runaways takes place in a parallel England, a near-invisible world that rarely intersects with our own. It is familiar territory from news reports, but only in outline. Sahota has a lot to say and he says it calmly, with great moral intelligence . . . deeply impressive. Sunday Times This massive book, stuffed with compelling stories, rich in characters and resoundingly authentic in its detailing of life in the harsh underbelly of this country, should be compulsory reading. A magnificent achievement. Daily Mail An ideal antidote to a year of reductive discussions of immigration, Sunjeev Sahota's novel takes you deep into the lives of a group of Indian labourers thrown together in Sheffield. Deftly shifting in time and place, Sahota builds a portrait of the often painful circumstances that lead these men to abandon life in India for this cold, damp city, in the hope of starting afresh. This is Sahota's second novel. His first, Ours Are the Streets, was an acutely observed story of a young man's shift from ordinary British Pakistani teenager to Muslim radical. The Year of the Runaways is no less accomplished in its lyrical prose and ability to immerse the reader in the experiences of a hidden community in Britain . . . It is a testament to Sahota's accomplished characterisation that he maintains sympathy with the men even after they commit crimes and take advantage of others -- Emily Dugan Independent on Sunday Novels of such scope and invention are all too rare; unusual, too, are those of real heart, whose characters you grow to love and truly care for. The Year of the Runaways has it all. The action spans continents, taking in a vast sweep of politics, religion and immigration; it also examines with tenderness and delicacy the ties that bind us, whether to family, friends or fellow travellers. Judges of forthcoming literary prizes need look no further. [...] For sheer emotion and vertigo-inducing anxiety, the [closing] scene ranks with Tess putting the letter under Angel Clare's door, or Omar Sharif catching sight of Julie Christie on a moving bus in the film of Dr Zhivago. You cry because of the terribleness of it, but also because you just don't want this book to end. Sunjeev Sahota is an absolutely wonderful writer. It is amazing that this book, so rich, so absorbing, so deftly executed, should be only his second. I doubt if I'll read a better novel this year. -- Cressida Connolly Spectator Told in the most intimate of ways, not theorised but deeply felt . . . Sahota is a writer who knows how to turn a phrase, how to light up a scene, how to make you stay up late at night to learn what happens next. This is a novel that takes on the largest questions and still shines in the smallest details. Sahota moves some of the most urgent political questions of the day away from rhetorical posturing and contested statistics and into the realm of humanity. The Year of the Runaways is a brilliant and beautiful novel. -- Kamila Shamsie Guardian

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About the Author

Sunjeev Sahota was born in 1981 in Derbyshire and continues to live in the area. He is the author of the critically acclaimed debut novel, Ours are the Streets.

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Back Cover

A Granta Best Young British Novelist 2013'Sahota knows how to light up a scene, how to make you stay up late at night. He moves some of the most urgent political questions of the day into the realm of humanity. A brilliant and beautiful novel' Guardian 'Scope, invention, characters you grow to love and truly care for . . . The Year of the Runaways has it all. You just don't want this book to end' Spectator 'A rich, intricate, beautifully written novel, bursting and seething with energy' The Times 'Should be compulsory reading. A magnificent achievement' Daily Mail 'Nothing short of an asteroid impact would have made me put the book down' Irish Times

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Product Details

Publisher
Pan Macmillan | Picador
Published
1st June 2015
Pages
480
ISBN
9781447241669

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