The author of the multi-prize-winning The Year of the Runaways returns with a novel of forbidden love that echoes across the generations 'China Room is the kind of novel that reminds you why you fell in love with reading' Open Book, BBC Radio 4 Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2022 Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2021 Longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2022 Longlist for the Ondaatje Prize 2022 A Daily Telegraph , Guardian and The Times Book of the Year Mehar, a young bride in rural 1929 Punjab, is trying to discover the identity of her new husband. She and her sisters-in-law, married to three brothers in a single ceremony, spend their days at work in the family's 'china room', sequestered from contact with the men. When Mehar develops a theory as to which of them is hers, a passion is ignited that will put more than one life at risk. Spiralling around Mehar's story is that of a young man who in 1999 travels from England to the now-deserted farm, its 'china room' locked and barred. In enforced flight from the traumas of his adolescence - his experiences of addiction, racism, and estrangement from the culture of his birth - he spends a summer in contemplation and recovery, finally gathering the strength to return home. Readers love CHINA ROOM: ***** Amazing... I could not put it down! ***** The characters jump off the pages... Beautiful ***** Powerful and heart-wrenching ***** Wonderful... I read it in one sitting ***** Gripping storytelling... An easy five stars

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015 Sweeping between India and England, and between childhood and the present day, Sunjeev Sahota's unforgettable novel about illegal immigrants 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. 'The Grapes of Wrath for the 21st century' - Washington Post 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 chaotic 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. 'A brilliant and beautiful novel' - author of Home Fire, Kamila Shamsie, Guardian

A story of forbidden love that echoes across generations - from the prize-winning author of The Year of the Runaways. 'A gorgeous, gripping read' Kamila Shamsie 'A multi-generational masterpiece' Daily Mail * A Book of the Year for The Times, Guardian and Daily Telegraph * Mehar, a young bride in rural Punjab, is trying to discover the identity of her new husband. It is 1929, and she and her sisters-in-law - married to three brothers in a single ceremony - spend their days hard at work on the family farm, sequestered from contact with the men. When Mehar develops a theory as to which of them is hers, a passion is ignited that will put more than one life at risk. Spiralling around Mehar's story is that of a young man who in 1999 flees from England to the deserted sun-scorched farm. Can a summer spent learning of love and of his family's past give him the strength for the journey home? Readers love China Room ***** 'I didn't want it to end' ***** 'What. A. Book.' ***** 'Beautifully crafted...a story as old as time' ***** 'A novel of thwarted loves' Shortlisted for the 2022 Rathbones Folio Prize Longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize Longlisted for the 2022 Walter Scott Prize Longlisted for the 2021 Ondaatje Prize 'Amazing storytelling...gripping and very moving' BBC Radio 4, Open Book 'I'm blown away by it' Tessa Hadley 'The stuff of miracles' Bryan Washington 'Moving...fresh and nourishing' The Times

'Genuine, poignant ...A moral work of real intelligence and power' John Burnside, The Times When Imtiaz Raina leaves England for the first time, to bury his father on his family's land near Lahore, he exchanges his uncertain life in Sheffield for a road that leads to the mountains of Kashmir and Afghanistan. Once back in Yorkshire, he writes through the night to his young wife Becka and baby daughter Noor, and tries to explain, in a story full of affection and yearning, what has happened to him and why he has a devastating new sense of home. 'What Sahota creates is not an exploration of the psyche of a suicide bomber, but an exploration of a man' Yorkshire Post 'Startling. This book successfully humanizes one of the great demons of contemporary society, and for that, Sunjeev Sahota should be given a high five off the Queen or something' Dazed and Confused, 'Book of the Month' 'Imtiaz's journey to Pakistan, and his sense of belonging, gives the novel much of its eloquence. Great literary promise' Independent 'Excruciatingly well-written' Guardian 'The book's great force lies in its voice: that of a young man straining to express instincts, fears and emotional conflicts, lending his writing a distinctive vibrancy' Observer 'An acute debut. What is most chilling, and most successful, is that it all seems so familiar, so close and so easy' Sunday Times