One Small Voice
Play sample
  • Published: 23 February 2023
  • ISBN: 9780241998809
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $26.00

One Small Voice

Formats & editions
Paperback
7 May 2024
Tr. Paperback
14 Mar 2023
Audiobook
23 Feb 2023
Buy from…
Apple Books Audible Google Play Kobo Libro.fm Spotify

A novel of modern India: of violence and prejudice, friendship and loyalty, community and tradition, and of a young man coming of age in a country on fire

India, 1992. The country is ablaze with riots. In Lucknow, ten-year-old Shubhankar witnesses a terrible act of mob violence that will alter the course of his life: one to which his family turn a blind eye.

As he approaches adulthood, Shabby focuses on the only path he believes will buy him an escape - good school, good degree, good job, good car. But when he arrives in Mumbai in his twenties, he begins to question whether there might be other roads he could choose. His new friends, Syed and Shruti, are asking the same questions : together, buoyed by the freedom of the big city, they are rewriting their stories.

But as the rising tide of nationalism sweeps across the country, and their friendship becomes the rock they all cling to, this new life suddenly seems fragile. And before Shabby can chart his way forward, he must reckon with the ghosts of his past . . .
  • Published: 23 February 2023
  • ISBN: 9780241998809
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $26.00
Categories:

Also by Santanu Bhattacharya

Deviants
See all

Praise for One Small Voice

Exceptional ... Bhattacharya gives us India in all its messy glory ... Heartbreaking and yet so full of hope

Melody Razak, author of Moth

A joy to read, a full universe of feeling, an effortless page-turner by a born storyteller

Max Porter

Bhattacharya has the enviable ability of creating a cast of characters that feel as real as any person I've met. His effortless writing sings on the page

Kasim Ali, author of Good Intentions

Whilst the plot turns on our capacity for cruelty, Bhattacharya's book brims with compassion. A novel about the complexities of adulthood, and the shame we all carry, that is both fearless and kind

Clare Pollard, author of Delphi

Emotional and bold ... A rare voice that rewards us with hope and recognition

Tice Cin, author of Keeping the House

Devastating and intimate, and political and radical all at the same time. Bhattacharya's storytelling talents are limitless

Nikesh Shukla

Thrilling ... Bhattacharya writes beautifully about friendship, family and the devastating consequences of secrecy and shame in a narrative that powerfully evokes the complexities of coming of age in modern India

Ben Fergusson, author of Tales from the Fatherland

[A] beautiful coming-of-age novel

Observer, Meet the 10 Best Debut Novelists for 2023

Epic in scope and yet composed of intimate moments ... One Small Voice will be one of the best debuts this year

Guardian

An intoxicating portrait of modern India, riven with internal political and cultural tensions, caught precariously between its colonial past and its ruthlessly modernising future ... Terrific

Daily Mail

[A] diverse, original take on contemporary India ... [A] hugely engaging novel written with verve, intelligence and compassion

Irish Times

Epic ... Guided by an intimate trajectory... Bhattacharya is a vivid and humane storyteller with a talent for encapsulating the social in the personal

Sydney Morning Herald

A compassionate, many-layered chronicle of trauma and recovery following mob violence in contemporary India, One Small Voice is a wonderful, timely contribution to world literature

Tsitsi Dangarembga, author of This Mournable Body
penguin pop image
penguin pop image