So hear me out; it took me at least a quarter of the way through this book to actually get into the story and it did get me hooked. If you are struggling reading it - carry on; it's worth it.

A lot has been packed into this book; the race/class divide, unionism and politics, secrets, trauma and tragedy. The characters haven't been written to be liked. I still have many questions: Did anyone else find Sajjan's character to be stalkerish? Did anyone else liken Megha's character to two of our former Home Secretaries?

Overall, The Spoiled Heart is a captivating read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for providing me with an ARC.

The Spoiled Heart is an interesting and intriguing contemporary literary fiction with a story of mystery at its heart, but also a tale of love, family, and the secrets that are held and festered for so long, as well as a warning of politics, misogyny and patriarchy, race and privilege.
There is a lot going on in this book. We follow Nayan Olak, running for general secretary of the union and his relationship with Helen and her son Brandon, who left town twenty years ago (and have just returned) at the same time that Nayan lost his mother and son in a fire that destroyed his life. Although the main portion of the book, these events are being told for us by our narrator Sajjan, who knew Nayan as a child, and quickly becomes obsessed with Nayan’s story and relationship with Helen. He recounts for us Nayan’s past and present, and the perspective and time period jumps around as he fills in the background of these characters for us. There is definitely a sense of an unreliable narrator here, as we hear everything through a third party – a writer none the less – who is crafting this story for us, embellishing what he wishes to embellish.
There is a lot of emphasis on the general secretary run, as Nayan battles against Megha, a newer and more privileged union member. Their ideas clash disastrously, leading to the climax of the novel, where Sahota explores ideas of privilege, race, the working class, and also accountability and ‘cancel culture’. There is a lot of interesting ideas being explored here, sometimes too many themes being commented on at once.
This was such a gripping novel, my first from Sahota, and it definitely has me eager to pick up his previous works. The mystery at the heart of the novel unfolded brilliantly, if a little predictably, but combined with the retelling of the general secretary run and the sense of tragedy, community, and secrets, I couldn’t put the novel down.

There's much to admire in this book which looks at grief, love and the intersections of class and race as well as the power of social media for good or ill. I also like that much of it is set in my home town of Sheffield, which makes a change from political novels largely based in London.

That said I didn't love this book. The narrative shifts between different narrators and different times could be confusing, I also found myself wondering if this is a novel built too much around the exploration of ideas at the expense of character and plot.

But Sahota is clearly a very good writer with a wide range, so it is definitely worth reading this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy.

I enjoyed Sahota’s earlier novel, The Runaways and The Spoiled Heart is even better. This really is a story of our times; grim, realistic and very much the face of parts of contemporary Britain. The setting is realistic and the characters feel like real people. Sahota’s strength lies in his ability to explore difficult themes with sensitivity and compassion. We are living in a racist, prejudiced and abusive society but these are not subjects that lend themselves to easy or popular reading.

Sahota draws the reader into the unknown. The backdrop is a left wing union setting in the Chesterfield area. Very northern and there’s an immediate conflict with modern trade unionism and racial politics. It’s a complex story with an unusual narrative style. Mayan Olak decides to run for a Union post and thinks it’s a done deal. But he has opposition and soon his life starts to spiral out of control. All human life is wrapped up in this story. Although there’s tragedy, the final feeling is one of hope. There’s much food for thought and I really like the way Sahota raises and considers difficult but important issues without being directive. This should be on literary prize lists.

The novel's nonlinear structure, coupled with its intricate backstories, demands patience from readers. However, those willing to immerse themselves will be rewarded with a hauntingly beautiful exploration of love, loss, and the indelible marks left by the past on the present.

Sahota's writing is simply spellbinding, brimming with evocative imagery and turns of phrase that linger long after the final page. While the pacing may feel unhurried at times, it ultimately serves to heighten the emotional impact of the story's most poignant moments.

This is my first Sunjeev Sahota book, and I will definitely read more of their work in the future.

This is the latest exquisitely written, multilayered, compelling powerhouse of a novel from Sunjeev Sahota, with its pertinent echoes of and quagmire that is our contemporary society in recent times, atmospherically unsettling where you are left with a unnerving feeling in your bones that all will not end well, and so it proves. Nayan Olak has a harrowing and traumatic past, he lost his mother and young son in a fire at the family shop, straining familial ties, leaving him focusing his energies and heart on his professional career as a long standing union man. He is at the point where he appears to be the natural choice in the campaign for general secretary of the union, only to be challenged by a ambitious rival, a younger woman, Megha.

The differences between them, on class, race and identity politics, impact of social media, debates and events conspire to change everything, Nayan's life is set to spiral out of his control. On a personal level, Nayan becomes drawn to a recent arrival to the area, Helen Fletcher has returned from London with her teenage son, Brandon. It is Brandon who ends up caring for Nayan's elderly dementia suffering father. He can't help but want to know more about Helen, why she left and came back. Tensions arise as the election becomes ever more a raging battle, more divisive and fraught, whilst there are twists and turns as dramatic revelations from Nayan's past begin to surface.

Sahota's humanity and reflective outlook is captivating, with his attention to detail, his skilful juggling of the complexities of the personal and the where our politics currently resides, the themes, the creation and development of his flawed characters, and a returning writer and narrator looking for inspiration, and where this takes him. Along with the location of Chesterfield, the history, ambitions, secrets, community, family, love, tragedy, loss, connections, interactions and relationships, had me emotionally enthralled, engaged and gripped from start to finish with the astutely observed, nuanced, and intriguing storytelling. I think this will appeal to a wide range of readers and I have no doubt that it will do well on publication. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

I loved this book.
For me Sunjeev Sahota's best book yet.
Sunjeev has a knack of writing complicated situations and feelings using simple descriptions, I zoomed through this book in a couple of days.
I loved the characters, and although some of the happenings were tragic I was wrapped up in the story, with hope and expectations, although not all of this was justified.
Knowing Sheffield area pretty well helps put the action in context, and the author has it spot on.
I can't wait for Sunjeev's next book, and hoping that his characters have more luck next time.
My thanks to the author for the hours of enjoyment that the book has brought me, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Sunjeev Sahota will have a much higher profile in the future than he currently does - it feels like his books undeservedly fly under the radar. This is a wonderful, complex and compelling novel about politics, race, family and identity. Told by a narrator with skin in the game, and a reliance on one particular charismatic voice, you’re constantly aware of how the story is formed and whose truth it is, which feeds neatly into the central themes of the novel. Has to be a booker nominee.

This is a relationship based novel set in UK.it is very British ,very Northern and atmospheric it feels very real . The story is set within a trade union and looks at the political and ethical issues facing and member of the union who wants to stand for Office. As well as the novel touches on racism and sexism as well as bullying. These weighty issues are dealt with sensitively the author managing to avoid the reader, feeling like they have been lectured which I have found with other authors.
I found the main characters characters were described perfectly. They were totally believable real people and this character definition extended to the more minor bit parts of the story.
As I say, this was a very British novel, and there is a strong northern field to the book it was nice not to haveyet novel set in London
There’s a number of false allegations made during this novel, which I found a very interesting ethical problem, very thought provoking
At the section where the narrator reads the online trolling is particularly well written made me feel quite anxious and nauseous on their behalf.
I’ve admit that I got confused on occasions as to who is narrating particular sections of the story ,there is a young man who is a journalist, who is interviewing the main protagonist and his section seem to be written in the first person. it took me some time to work out this. personally I didn’t feel that this person was really important to the story, and it might’ve been better told without using this storytelling device.
I also struggled a little bit with the time jumps between chapters it often took me quite a way down, the first page to realise when this section was set
I read copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK on the 25th of April 2024 by random house, UK, vintage New.

This review will appear on NetGalley, UK, Goodreads and my book blog bionicSarahS Books.wordpress.com after publication, it will also appear on Amazon, UK

Sunjeev Sahota always writes a good book - he is an author with a gift for words - but in this case, he hasn't written a very cheerful one. 'The Spoiled Heart' is one of those novels where there is a sense of impending doom hanging over everything. It's almost unbearable to read at times, so clear is it to the reader that it's all going to go horribly wrong for the characters. And it's really not a spoiler to say it does, as it's made clear from early on that it will.

The novel is narrated by a writer who becomes intrigued by the story of an childhood friend whom he meets again in his forties. The friend - Nayan - has a tragic history. His mother and four year old son died in an arson attack on their family shop, after which his family fell apart. Since then he devoted his life to the trade union movement, whilst caring for his irascible father who suffers early onset dementia and Parkinson's disease. The story focusses on a year in Nayan's life when he was running for election as secretary general of his Union, which coincided with a mysterious woman and her young adult son moving in nearby. Nayan's intrigue with this woman only increases when she declines to become a carer for his father for unclear reasons. He wants to know why she left the town suddenly in her youth, and why she reappeared equally suddenly now. Eventually all of that will become clear, and it's not a cheery tale.

There are some difficult questions explored by this book, about race and class and how the two intersect. During his election efforts, which are covered in detail, Nayan argues that race is of secondary importance to class and removing poverty and exploitation of workers will be a more effective way to fight racism than focussing on the issue itself. His opponent, an ambitious young woman named Megha, argues the opposite - that race cannot be forgotten and treated as if it isn't a major issue affecting people in the workplace when it so clearly is. Both begin to resort to underhand tactics, and the whole sorry tale is enough to put anyone sensible off running for any kind of office. It's a timely story given the increased concern about the tone of political debate, 'trial by social media', and the threats and risks faced by people seeking or serving in public office.

I had a lot of sympathy for Nayan, who seemed like ultimately a very decent man who had had extreme bad luck in his life. Helen was a much more difficult character to like but I did have sympathy for her situation once it was revealed. It isn't a story with a moral as such, it's simply set out as a set of things that happened. Readers can draw their own conclusions about what it 'means', if anything.

Once again Sahota has written an interesting and different piece of literary fiction that is very readable and has an original plot with likeable characters. I didn't exactly enjoy it, because I really felt that sense of dread throughout - which is testament to his effective writing. It gets four stars for that reason, although for some readers it will be a reason to give it five. Sahota is a writer who doesn't stick to a formula so each new book is an intriguing surprise, and I'm already looking forwards to his next one, whatever that might be.

My first book by this author and I have to say I really enjoyed it.

A story of race and class, of grief, trauma and love, all set against the backdrop of a workers union, it’s a fascinating look at the human condition in all its forms.

There are many story arcs with trauma, secrets and regret being a recurring theme but also a need to do what’s right, or what the protagonists perceive to be right. The racism and classism isn’t as black and white here as you would think. Everyone is shown up at some point for their preconceptions and prejudices, even if they aren’t aware of them.

A really interesting book. I loved the writing. Very real characters for the most part. There is a certain melancholy that runs throughout that makes the happier times even sweeter.

Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley

I abandoned this book before 25% through. Its just too disjointed and generally unhelpful. The story is related to the narrator by a reluctant source and here and there are interesting pockets but I just got too weary of wading through it.

Set in Sheffield, The Spoiled Heart is about Nayan Olak, a middle aged man whose mum and four-year-old son were killed in a fire twenty years ago. We’re introduced to Nayan by Sajjan, a writer who knew him when he was young and is intrigued how this popular, well liked Union rep has become a YouTube warrior living alone in a small studio flat.

Through visits during Covid lockdowns, Sajjan learns more about Nayan’s life story. Sajjan is our narrator and, in an interesting move that I did enjoy but which took some getting used to, narrates the perspectives of not only Nayan but also Helen, a woman who has returned to the area with her teenage son Brandon, and Megha, a colleague at the Union who challenges him for election as General Secretary.

The plot has two strands - Nayan’s personal relationships and his growing closeness to Helen and Brandon - as well as a more political angle. The latter involves Nayan’s campaign to become General Secretary of the Union for which he has been a member for decades. He is challenged by a young, well educated and ‘privileged’ Black woman called Megha.

I enjoyed the unfolding of the personal story and the fact that Nayan may be an unreliable narrator of his own story kept me interested. The ‘reveal’ at the end of the book was perhaps a little underwhelming but overall it was engaging and believable.

For me, the more political elements that explored identity politics and the intersection of class and race were less well done. Megha’s characterisation felt quite weak in comparison to other characters and I wasn’t always entirely clear of her motivations. I thought she lacked depth and seemed to be included as a foil to Nayan, rather than as a compelling character in her own right.

Overall, I enjoyed the dialogue, the majority of the characterisation and the pacing of the story and would definitely recommend.

The strange thing about The Spoiled Heart is that it's not about race - and it's ALL about race.

It's different to Sahota's earlier novels. The main character Nayan is a British-born Asian man who has fallen in love with Helen, a girl he knew when they were both teenagers. Nayan lost his mother and his young son to a house fire. Helen moved away. Now she's back in town, Nayan has hired Helen's son Brandon to help out with his elderly father and Nayan is interested in a relationship with Helen after many years of grieving his family.

So. there's a complicated love story going on.

There's also a work story interwoven with the personal stuff. Nayan works for a union. He's worked his way up from the shop floor. He appeals to union members both white and brown. He would almost certainly say that his race is irrelevant. He states his opinion that the White Working Class shouldn't exist - meaning that being working class isn't about being white - but that's where everything starts to go wrong.

He's in an election battle with Megha, a young black woman who has joined the union from a background of education and privilege. Actually, let me stop myself. I may have got that wrong. Megha's name is Indian, but I'm still confused about her race. Does it matter? Again, I'm not sure. The battle is less about race and more about privilege. Nayan is old-school union. Megha is the diversity, equality, etc rep on the union. She's very 2020s.

This book is a romance, a commentary on unionism, and a bit of a horror story. The horror story is about just how badly a few poorly chosen words can damage everything you hold dear. A few sentences taken - from Nayan's POV - out of context. A photo of a bruise, Accusations of race denial. Accusations of class denial. Ooh, there's so much to get your teeth into.

And quietly, in the background, there's a mystery about the fire that killed Nayan's family that needs to be solved. A relationship between Helen's drug addict prostitute mother, and Nayan's dodgy dad.

There's a lot to take in.

BUT, there's one thing I wish the editors had taken out. The mystery narrator who pops up at the beginning and again at the end, but seems to go into hibernation somewhere in the middle. For me, that plot device added nothing, caused distraction and confusion, and if it had ended up on the literary equivalent of the cutting room floor, this book might have snuck up to 4.5 stars or even 5.

“He told me all this, their story, several years later, when the country was still wrestling with the pandemic, the talk all of boosters, and I found him occupying a room in a multi-let house in the centre of Chesterfield. Growing up, though we lived only a mile or so apart, we’d not had much to do with one another. Nayan was six years older than me – I’m closer to Helen’s age – and attended Netherthorpe, the former grammar whose Victorian façade still carried weight in the local imagination, when really it was every bit as rough and failing as Springwell, its rival and my concrete block of a school. I’m not saying I didn’t know Nayan. There were at most five Asian families in the town back then, all Sikh households, and all, to a man, living above their shops. Sometimes we got together, for Diwali usually”

The fourth novel from the 2013 Granta Best Young British Novelists list author, who like me has a mathematics degree and like me started his career, post-graduation, working for a life insurance company (our paths – and I think from this novel our political opinions - rather diverged after that).

The author’s second novel “The Runaways” was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize and was also winner of that year’s Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award for literary second novels. My own views on that book was that it was a triumph of theme and ideas (a topical and engaging treatment of the hidden lives of economic immigrants to the UK and the contrasts and interactions between their lives in India and England) over execution (a lack of plausible and distinguishable characters, the over-heavy use of untranslated objects, expressions and distinctions and a very weak epilogue).

His third novel “China Room” (in this case longlisted for the Booker Prize) was part based in 1929 Punjab and a family legend (a group of veiled women married to a set of brothers, leading to mistaken identities), part 70 years later as the narrator - a descendent of one of the women - visits his relatives in Indian shortly before taking up an offer to study Maths at Imperial (and also looks to go cold turkey from addiction), and partly some 20 years further later as the narrator returns to the family shop to nurse his father (an autobiographical incident). For me it was an overly understated novel whose real strengths lay in the themes which linked the parts - a desire for belonging, identity, connection and of grasping for some form of self-determination in the face of societal prejudice and expectations, the sense of being a substitute.

Now this novel is his first set exclusively in England – in the Chesterfield area the now Sheffield-based author was born. It is also much more conventionally political than his earlier novels – and focuses on left wing (in particular trade union) politics and the tension between traditional class-based, solidarity, economical-justice focused Unionism and the world of identity politics and DEI – primarily in a race context in the novel.

Alongside this though is a psychological community drama which gives the book the narrative propulsion that both his previous two novels failed to achieve for me.

The book has an slightly unusual style – effectively narrated by an intermediary between the reader and the conventional third party storytelling sections; the author has said that he hit on this outsider-narrator device after failing to get either a first party or third party style to work for the core trade-union and family tragedy story he was telling. I suspect (although he has not said so explicitly) this was because that story relies heavily on withheld revelations and misunderstandings – and by adding a narrator acting (as Suhota has said) as an author-detective gradually unravelling the truth removed the artificiality that is often present in unreliable narrator/withheld revelation type books.

And in fact Suhota takes this further in two aspects. Firstly two additional revelations in the novel actually impact on the narrator himself, adding an extra layer of development. Secondly the narrator is very close to an alter-ego – Sajjan grew up in Chesterfield, went to London to study, became a novelist (with three novels to date) and now lives close by (all of course true of the author).

The primary story that Sajjan tells is of Nayan Olak – and has its origins for Sajjan in early 2020 (just pre pandemic) when he makes a rare return to Chesterfield (to wet a friend’s baby’s head) and is mistaken for Nayan by an ex-Union member who still revers him. This becomes “a real blast from the past” for Sajjan. Speaking to his now-Sheffield-based parents their reluctance to revisit the tragedy that forever marked Nayan (the loss of his mother and four year old son in an never explained fire in the family shop) has the effect of only increasing the interest he had already gained in Nayan from watching his activist videos on You Tube, and Sajjan decides to make contact and gradually befriends Nayan hoping initially for some material to start another novel: what drove his journey from “union stalwart to anti-racist activist”, what was the story behind the tragedy .

After an initially hostile reaction once the two can get together when lockdowns ease “Local writer. Except there’s nothing local about you. Got out to London as quick as you could and never looked back. And now lives within spitting distance, spitting away, building a career out of making us look contemptible” the two gradually bond over weekly long walks in the peaks and Nayan starts to tell his story.

That story is based in 2017 and has two main strands – one Professional, the other Personal.

Professionally: Nayan, a life long and much respected Union member, rep and then employee (currently as Head of Employee Actions), decides to stand as General Secretary of the Union. His surprise opponent is Megha Sharma – from a rich background she is a recent joiner to the Union where she works as Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – who had originally hoped to run as his deputy (a position he has already promised to Lisa-Marie (a lifelong friend and single parent with two mixed race children). Megha runs a surprisingly effective campaign – but one relying heavily on a language of identity politics rather than the class solidarity that underlies Nayan’s vision.

Personally: Nayan becomes intrigued with Helen Fletcher – a school contemporary of his older sister (where she was famous for attacking the headmaster – and shortly after left home and her alcoholic mother for London) who has recently returned to the area with her son Brandon. His intrigue with the seemingly non-conventional and independent Helen (who he passes on his daily runs) only grows when she refuses to take up an offer from the Home Help Agency for which she works to look after Nayan’s elderly and increasingly dementia-ridden father Pyara (an abusive and unfaithful husband to Nayan’s late mother who abandoned for unclear reasons her only attempt to leave him). Instead Nayan persuades Helen’s out-of-work son Brandon to take on the role instead. Over time he learns of why Brandon and Helen had to leave London (at this stage we are reading a close third party account of Helen’s time in London, as explained by Nayan to Sajjan and then written down by Sajjan). Brandon, a skilled cook working in an exclusive boarding school, is accused of racism when he stops a black girl (the daughter of a diplomat) from sitting in an area reserved for diplomats and the incident rapidly grows out of hand and on-line, with the school terminating Brandon’s contract and Brandon even being hounded when he returns to the pub where he and his Mum used to work.

Meanwhile the Union election gets similarly charged and on-line, after Megha decides to make public a row between her and Nayan at an ill-conceived Diwali event he runs (with Brandon as cook and Lisa Marie’s two children as waiters). He accuses her of dividing the working class with “the identity swizz you get off on” – and inventing with “her kind of politics” the very concept of a “white working class .. left behind as backward, racist[s] – words she weaponises against him as showing he does not believe in white members and later (when he responds angrily) accusing him of assaulting her at the party. At this stage Sajjan and Helen have started a relationship, oddly intense on the side of Helen who still refuses to visit Sajjan’s home – however the increasing tension with Megha and her taking of his words and actions online proves particularly difficult for Brandon (reminding him of his own internet shaming) and causes a wedge with Helen.

With Helen, Sajjan feels that there is something evasive in Nayan’s retelling of he story and based on his own researches and intuition arrives at the sudden realisation that firstly Helen’s mother and Nayan’s father were having a casual affair, and secondly that Helen must have been involved – as revenge - in the fire that killed Nayan’s wife and mother but that he does not now if Sajjan is aware of this (and witholding it) or not.

From there the Union election gets even more charged and fraught culminating in an official debate. Megha has as seconder Richard (Health and Safety Lead and firmly pro white workers but turned against Nayan by Megha) who until then been very suspicious of her DEI agenda until she chose to run a joint ticket focused equally but differently on both non-white and white members. Nayan has Lisa Marie’s firebrand daughter.

And meanwhile Sajjan comes to the late conclusion that his family was much more closely involved in the past incidents than he had ever realised and retells the story of his mother and father.

One thing that interested me about the novel – and the Nayan/Megha divide is the subject of sympathies of different parties with the two views expressed.

Sajjan seems neutral (any bias towards Nayan’s position more based on his source) or perhaps even disinterested – more focused, for material he can use to write, on the Helen drama/mystery.

Suhota’s sympathies lie with Richard’s position – from a Bookerseller interview when the book was optioned: “Sahota laments the shift from a politics of solidarity to that of identity, which “can’t deliver meaningful social change because brown people are as class-riven as anyone else”. This language of identity results in class being raced, he says, which, conveniently for élites, divides the working class, preventing any cross-cultural coalition.”

I have to say my view was more in the Mercutio camp – the book a hardly-needed reminder of what a disaster a Corbynista government would have been and why leaders like Blair and Starmer are needed to get Labour to a party fit to govern for any length of time.

But overall I did find this an intriguing novel. All the main and even sub-characters are all complex and presented very empathetically by the author (for example late on we gain great insights into Megha’s difficult relationship with her parents and her privileged background). It is one which was far from understated like his previous novel. If anything the two elements were both overdone: the solidarity versus identity debate did not I feel need two instances of public/internet shaming (and it was perhaps odd that the Brandon incident never resurfaced during the Union election); and there were perhaps one (or two) too many revelations in the mystery/psychological drama element. However as a result both were memorable and both were balanced nicely (as equally overweight) and so the book did keep me engaged with the length of my review perhaps testament to that.

My thanks to Random House UK, Vintage for an ARC via NetGalley

I really enjoyed The China Room but I didn't get on with this one so well. I got confused and lost the thread several times. The underlying story gets lost in the politics, and accusations of racism, which I found upsetting. The personal story of the main characters, which are very well rounded, memorable people, is an interesting one, but gets a bit lost. However, I will read it again to clarify what I think, and there is no doubt that this is a very talented author.

This is a literary novel - a complex story which encapsulates social, cultural and political issues including race and what that really means. It's clear why this writer has been nominated for prizes, his writing is exquisite in places, and the characterisation of protagonist is so effective as to be heart-wrenching, as we accompany them on their decline. It's not all gloom though, and, with deftness, there is hope at the end. Only a quality writer could pull that off. My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy.

In "The Spoiled Heart," Sunjeev Sahota proves himself a contemplative and skilled writer unafraid to delve into complex political, societal, and cultural matters. The novel navigates the landscape of racial and class-based inequality, as well as challenging and harmful cultural norms. At its essence, we observe the relentless and brutal downward spiral of the central character. Sahota, employing the narrator's perspective, adeptly unveils concealed layers that have veiled the truth for decades. The eventual denouement offers a potential source of relief and hope for the future.

Not read anything previously by this author but based on this yet unpublished novel (February 24) - The Spoiled Hearts - Sunjeev Sahota is a reflective, talented writer who doesn’t shy away from thorny political, societal and cultural issues. In this novel he explores inequality/inequity due to race and class, and questionable and damaging cultural norms, and at its core, we bear witness to the inexorable, brutal, spiralling decline of its central character. Sahota, through the narrator, deftly reveals hidden layers which, for decades, have obscured the truth before the final denouement which may be the source of relief and hope moving forward.

First of all thank you so much to @penguinrandom house and @vintagebooks for kindly sending me the eARC.
Although I’d heard of the author I’d never read one of his works but was pleasantly surprise.
The plot of this book is great and you have a bit of everything, love and loss, secrets, tragedy which really makes you want to not put the book down.
I definitely recommend this book and author and will definitely read more from Sunjeev Sahota.