The Living

LONGLISTED FOR THE DSC PRIZE FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE 2017 In this tender, lyrical, and often funny novel, Anjali Joseph, author of Saraswati Park, shines a light on everyday life, illuminating its humour, beauty, and truth. There is a certain number of breaths each of us have to take, and no amount of care or carelessness can alter that. This is the story of two lives. Claire is a young single mother working in one of England’s last remaining shoe factories, her adult life formed by a teenage relationship. Is she ready to move on from memory and the routine of her days? Arun makes hand-sewn chappals at his home in Kolhapur. A recovered alcoholic, now a grandfather, he negotiates the newfound indignities of old age while returning in thought to the extramarital affair he had years earlier. These are lives woven through with the ongoing discipline of work and the responsibility and tedium of family life. Lives laced with the joys of friendship, the pleasure of sex, and the redemptive kindness of one’s own children. This is the story of the living. In this tender, lyrical and often funny novel, Anajli Joseph, author of Saraswati Park, shines a light on everyday life, illuminating its humour, beauty, and truth. This literary masterpiece, one of the best in fiction, is a saga that explores the romance of everyday life. Anjali Joseph's The Living is a top pick for those who appreciate the beauty and truth in the mundane. For fans of Annie Ernaux (Shame – WINNER OF THE 2022 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE), Parinda Joshi (A House Full Of Men), Antonio Iturbe (The Prince of the Skies), Anuja Chauhan (The Zoya Factor), and Susanna Clarke (The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories).