Railsong - by Rahul Bhattacharya (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Magnificent . . . I would follow Miss Chitol to the ends of the earth." -Kamila Shamsie

"Profoundly tender [and] vigorously alive to the currents of national change." -Megha Majumdar

From the Man Asian Prize-shortlisted author Rahul Bhattacharya, a breathtaking novel about a woman forging a life for herself on the railways of twentieth-century India.

Book Synopsis

"Magnificent . . . I would follow Miss Chitol to the ends of the earth." -Kamila Shamsie

"Profoundly tender [and] vigorously alive to the currents of national change." -Megha Majumdar

From the Man Asian Prize-shortlisted author Rahul Bhattacharya, a breathtaking novel about a woman forging a life for herself on the railways of twentieth-century India.

In a country rapidly modernizing after independence, Animesh Chitol bends his caste title into a quirky surname, moves his family to the brand-new township of Bhombalpur Railway Workshop, and throws in his lot with an optimism-filled future. Then tragedy strikes. Into the empty space left by his wife's passing grows Chitol's only daughter, the middle child, Charu. As India moves from steam to diesel locomotives, through a great strike and state repression, Charu flees to Bombay, alarmed by her narrow prospects. There she quests for the means to live on her own terms.

Amidst the everyday discriminations of modern India, Charu forges her own destiny, becoming a railway woman and census enumerator who keeps her heart open-sometimes guilelessly-to her country's vast possibility. Sweeping, elegiac, and at times wonderfully comic, Railsong is one woman's coming of age and a beautifully complex love letter to the finely wrought world of the Indian railways and a country beset by religious and political upheaval.

Review Quotes

"Rahul Bhattacharya is an extraordinary writer, and Railsong is a majestic yet profoundly tender novel. Vigorously alive to the currents of national change as well as to the tragedy, daring, humor, and love experienced in one woman's days and years, Railsong bids us to observe the worth and intricacy of one person's journey." --Megha Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A BURNING

"Magnificent. Railsong treads so lightly, and yet has such depth to it. I would follow Miss Chitol to the ends of the earth for the continued joy of her company." --Kamila Shamsie, internationally bestselling and Women's Prize for Fiction-winning author of HOME FIRE and BEST OF FRIENDS

"Bhattacharya's gift for reproducing the rhythms and intricacies of his characters' speech . . . places him in the company of Mark Twain. He understands the world by listening to it." --The New Yorker on THE SLY COMPANY OF PEOPLE WHO CARE

"A travel novel that reads like award-winning journalism . . . From the novel's very first line, we know we're in the care of a narrator unmatched in his lyricism and sensitivity." --Alice Gregory, The Boston Globe on THE SLY COMPANY OF PEOPLE WHO CARE

"[The novel]'s heart lies in the exuberant and often arresting observations of a man plunging himself a world full of beauty, violence and cultural strife. It's impossible, reading Bhattacharya, not to be reminded of V.S. Naipaul." --Dinaw Mengestu, The New York Times Book Review on THE SLY COMPANY OF PEOPLE WHO CARE

"Few works capture, with such effectiveness, the profound political and social transformations of the last decades of the twentieth century-tracing their impact from the grassroots to the highest levels of society. Negotiating the subtle, intricate bond between the language of lived experience and the language of narration, Rahul Bhattacharya meets that challenge with remarkable assurance, Railsong is a testament to the depth and brilliance of his craft. Charu's solitude permeates the novel, even when she is surrounded by people, even when she performs every duty with care. Rarely has writing so comprehensively, and precisely captured this haunting feeling-the silent burden of the missing-that stands as the novel's greatest achievement and its most profound triumph." --Vivek Shanbhag, author of Ghachar, Ghochar

"Does anyone write better prose than Rahul Bhattacharya? Every word in this gorgeous, darting novel is a surprise. Bhattacharya has created an epic out of a single life." --Karan Mahajan, author of FAMILY PLANNING and THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBS (National Book Award Finalist)

About the Author