Anjali Joseph is an Indian novelist living in Britain. Her first novel, Saraswati Park, won the Betty Trask Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, and the Vodafone Crossword Book Award for Fiction. Her work illuminates the inner lives of characters: from a Bombay letter writer to a single mother in a Norwich factory, or the sceptical late-thirties protagonists of her latest novel, Keeping in Touch, as they navigate falling in love. Anjali's gift is to make art that reconnects readers to their sense of magic. She is working on a novel about the Irish naval officer and archaeoastronomer Boyle Somerville.
'Keeping in Touch is an unsettling slow burn of a novel, as quiet and funny as it is a searing and precise portrait of the human condition. Anjali's writing is calm and restrained but the novel builds such intensity through her powerful observation. A real beauty.'
-- Evie Wyld, author of
All The Birds, Singing'The hesitation and wary texting, the one step forward and two steps back - this is a modern love story that also becomes a love story about Assam. I read this book in a single sitting.'
-- Jeet Thayil, author of
Narcopolis'A relationship novel perfect for today's uncertain world - resolutely grown-up, delicately unpredictable, and all the more satisfying for it.'
-- Jonathan Gibbs, author of
Randall'Beguiling and intricate, Keeping in Touch draws you into a complex, contemporary romance. As with her previous novels, the humour Anjali Joseph observes so well, in and between her characters, is to the fore. A book of wit and sharply observed sexual politics.'
-- Tom Connolly, author of
Men Like Air'A fragile story of reluctant commitments ... this is not just a love story but an intricate political saga of contemporary times. The author has interwoven a layered narrative ... Anjali Joseph has written an outstanding novel. An excellent read.'
-- Jasmine Sandhu Sandhawalia * The Tribune (India) *
'Keeping in Touch is an ode to ordinary lives of people with extraordinary experiences and legitimate expectations ... Keeping in Touch also moves through a series of lasts and finals till you reach the beginning of the road to self-discovery ... The cinematic quality of Joseph's storytelling is unmistakable. The interplay of crisp scenes makes the story read like a screenplay ... embrace both the strange and the familiar realities in life, and never lose touch with either.'
-- Ipshita Mitra * Scroll.in *
'A novel with a lingering resonance for our times ... Keeping in Touch is edgy, funny, and uncompromisingly modern.'
* Fantastic Fiction *
Praise for Anjali Joseph:
'Joseph's is a deep and unusual talent; she attends to questions for which not every novelist is equipped.'
-- Amit Chaudhuri * The Guardian *
Praise for The Living:
'A beautiful and profound book that distills, with uncanny precision and truthfulness, the flow and movement of inner lives deep under the surface of things. Joseph has dug at one of the hardest spots in the terrain of form and come up with a luminous and rare jewel.'
-- Neel Mukherjee, author of
The Lives of OthersPraise for Another Country:
'Beautifully delineated ...The writing throughout is cool and clear, and whilst the overall tone of the novel is hauntingly melancholic, it is also distinguished by a refreshingly abrasive wit.'
-- Peter Parker * Sunday Times *
Praise for Saraswati Park:
'A gentle disquisition on the disparity between the way people aspire to live and the frequently disappointing reality, Joseph's debut novel explores the compromises lying at the heart of family life ... As she reveals her character's inner lives, Joseph captures the transient beauty of the everyday ... a meticulously written tale of hope and regret.'
-- Anna Scott * The Guardian *
Praise for Saraswati Park:
'Anjali Joseph's debut novel is replete with evocative images of Bombay ... but the book's greatest strength lies in its delicate portrayal of a young man's desperation for intimate connection, and a couple's acceptance of a marriage that has failed.'
-- Maria Crawford * Financial Times *
Praise for Saraswati Park:
'This novel pulls the reader straight into the heart of modern middle-class Mumbai ...Joseph contrasts the inner and outer lives of her characters, and the uneasy friction between new and old cultures, with all the wit and delicacy of a latter-day Mrs Gaskell.'
-- Kate Saunders * The Times *
'The story stretches out the narrow boundaries of magic realism - you will find yourself more grounded in the matter-of-fact world we live in - where Joseph transmutes the 'sameness of everydayness' into the extraordinary. You will discover every shower bringing out its own special rainbow. Keeping in Touch is a very old-fashioned love story in a modern time, where the seduction of a 30-something British Asian man by an Assamese woman assumes epic undertones. This is a story well told. It is hard to put the book down after you have read the first few pages. The aftertaste lingers long after the book is done and dusted.'
-- Ganesh Saili * The New Indian Express *
'Anjali Joseph has the gift of writing from the perspective of the outsider. The accounts her protagonists give of their experiences in her novels manage to be wry, detached and honest all at the same time ... Keeping in Touch, like Joseph's other novels, seamlessly switches perspectives of the protagonists, and has the same measured pace.'
-- Antara Raghavan * Open *
'Anjali Joseph excels in these middle class stories. It is almost as if it is in the spirit of Jane Austen, to polish the two inches of ivory ... Interestingly, this novel is probably a fine example of a new brand of diasporic literature that blends the cultures of the two lands deftly and unapologetically. It is evident in little details such as the use of Assamese words in the course of conversation or to describe dishes ... Keeping in Touch is a very old-fashioned love story in a modern setting. It is beautifully told. It is impossible to put down. It lingers with you long after the book is over.'
-- Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, co-founder of Ace Literary Consulting and Associate Professor at School of Modern Media Studies, UPES University
'Joseph is particularly good at evoking ... visceral experiences, of being displaced from one's own context and thrown into another, of meeting other people in other places, and of the life crackling in those fleeting encounters that animates the spirit. She does this in unassuming, clear prose ... Joseph is equally capable of lush, gorgeous visions that strike the reader suddenly, arresting, like the sight of ordinary beauty ... Her writing illuminates the mundane and mysterious pace of life, the long and slow parts before major transformations that propel characters into greater self-awareness, or awareness of the world.'
-- Shreya Ila Anasuya * Mint Lounge *
