The Spoiled Heart
A propulsive new state-of-the-nation novel about family, secrets, love, and community
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
'Gripping… irresistible… brilliant' The Times
'Perfectly judged and intimately alive' Guardian
Nayan Olak hasn’t risked love since his young son died.
Instead he has ploughed his grief and energy into his work at the union, trying to create the world he would have wanted for his boy. Now he’s running for the leadership: a huge moment for Nayan, the culmination of everything he believes.
As he grows closer to the mysterious Helen Fletcher, and to the possibility that their pasts may have been connected, much more is suddenly threatened than his chances of winning. And when Megha Sharma, a new candidate with new politics, bursts into the picture, the race of a lifetime is on.
'A plot-packed, propulsive story' New York Times
'Restless, inquiring, utterly topical. The Spoiled Heart may be his finest yet, with a tumultuous but perfectly sustained ending that proves both moving and revelatory' Financial Times
Readers are obsessed with The Spoiled Heart:
**‘A deft and artful novel when it comes to speaking around the philosophical questions that define our current 'culture wars'’
**‘A compelling story that looks at a number of social and cultural issues but is basically a very absorbing narrative’
**‘A masterful novel which asks important topical state-of-the-nation questions’
**‘My favourite of Sahota's novels’
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sahota (China Room) returns with a beautifully constructed tale of a British Indian factory worker who attempts to find solace in his labor union and a new romance many years after losing his mother and son in a fire. Nayan Olak, 42, is running for general secretary of the union, which represents workers at the air conditioner factory in Chesterfied, England, where he's dedicated his life. Megha Sharma, who's also of Indian descent, opposes him in the race. Though either of them would be the organization's first nonwhite general secretary, Megha positions herself as the "change candidate," claiming their fellow workers of color need protection from hateful assaults like the recent one on a retail worker in their union. Nayan, with his "curdled charisma," focuses his campaign on interracial working-class solidarity. Meanwhile, Nayan's old acquaintance Helen Fletcher returns to Chesterfied from London with her teenage son, Brandon, who was fired from his job as a cook at a private school after his remarks to a Black student were misunderstood as racist. Nayan hires Brandon to help take care of his father, who has dementia, and attempts to befriend Helen. Though she initially brushes him off, they eventually begin a romantic relationship. Sahota fascinates with his nuanced and multifaceted depictions of race and class, and he weaves in plenty of suspense as the union election unfolds. This is electrifying.
