A quiveringly taut family fuelled by an urgent mystery and compressed into 180 pages, this is another bravura performance from 'India's finest writer' (Herald)

From a master of contemporary Indian fiction, an expertly crafted and taut family drama, set over the course of four days.

'Extraordinary.' Geetanjali Shree
'A writer of rare and wonderful gifts.' Garth Greenwell
'One of those writers whose voice takes your breath away.' Yiyun Li

A knock on the door shouldn't be a cause for alarm. But when Venkat finds two insolent young men on his doorstep, he knows something is off. They say they need to get in touch with his daughter Rekha, but why is it so urgent? Could she really be a pawn in gang warfare? And more importantly, where is she?

The story should begin a few days earlier, when Rekha left for Venkat's home village. But maybe Venkat needs to look a little further back: at the early days of his marriage to her mother Viji? Or his parents' marriage? Or does the truth lie even further still?

'Tense, taut and compulsively readable.' Deepa Anappara
'Vivek Shanbhag is probably the best writer writing in any language anywhere.' Mohammed Hanif

Details

ISBN13: 9780571390830
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 192
Edition: Main
Publication Date: 09 Sep 2025
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Publication City, Country: London,United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 19.8(H)x12.9(L)
Weight (gm):

Author Biography

Vivek Shanbhag is the author of eight works of fiction and two plays, all of which have been published to wide acclaim in the South Indian language of Kannada. Ghachar Ghochar is the first of his books to appear in English. He was the recipient of a Fall 2016 residency at the International Writing Program at Iowa. An engineer by training, Vivek Shanbhag lives in Bangalore, India.

Reviews

'Astonishingly truthful and marvellously playful, Sakina's Kiss is an extra-ordinary novel.', Megha Majumdar, author of A BURNING
'Tense, taut and compulsively readable.', Deepa Anappara, author of DJINN PATROL ON THE PURPLE LINE