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One Small Voice by Santanu Bhattacharya
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One Small Voice

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Narrator Mikhail Sen

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Length 11 hours 19 minutes
Language English
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Brought to you by Penguin.

'A joy to read, a full universe of feeling, an effortless page-turner by a born storyteller
. One Small Voice is the great contemporary middle class Indian novel, showing us ordinary people knocked about by the specific sociopolitical currents of turn-of-the-century India, but also wrestling with universal challenges of family, ambition, friendship and shame' Max Porter, author of The Death of Francis Bacon
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India, 1992. The country is ablaze with riots. In Lucknow, ten-year-old Shubhankar witnesses a terrible act of mob violence in which his family are complicit: an act that will alter the course of his life.

In the two decades that follow, Shabby must wrestle with the ghosts of his past, the expectations of his family, and the seismic shifts taking place around him as the country enters the new millennium. As an adult in Mumbai, he encounters Syed and Shruti, who, like him, are seeking the freedom to rewrite their stories while navigating the contradictions of modern India. As the rising tide of nationalism sweeps across the country, their friendship becomes a rock they all cling to.

Until one day, Shabby makes a split-second decision that will change everything...

Dazzling and deeply moving, One Small Voice is 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.

ยฉ2023 Santanu Bhattacharya (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Santanu Bhattacharya grew up in India, and studied at the University of Oxford and the National University of Singapore. He is the winner of the 2023 Desmond Elliott Prize Residency and the 2021 Mo Siewcharran Prize. His first novel, One Small Voice, was an Observer best debut novel of 2023, and was shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award and the Society of Authorsโ€™ Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize. He now lives in London.

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Reviews

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 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 [A] beautiful coming-of-age novel [A] diverse, original take on contemporary India ... [A] hugely engaging novel written with verve, intelligence and compassion Epic ... Guided by an intimate trajectory... Bhattacharya is a vivid and humane storyteller with a talent for encapsulating the social in the personal Epic in scope and yet composed of intimate moments ... One Small Voice will be one of the best debuts this year 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 A joy to read, a full universe of feeling, an effortless page-turner by a born storyteller Devastating and intimate, and political and radical all at the same time. Bhattacharya's storytelling talents are limitless Exceptional ... Bhattacharya gives us India in all its messy glory ... Heartbreaking and yet so full of hope 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 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 Emotional and bold ... A rare voice that rewards us with hope and recognition Expand reviews
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