First published 2025
In a near-future Kolkata crumbling under environmental and economic strain, Ma prepares to escape with her young daughter and elderly father, their American visas their only lifeline. When her purse—containing those critical documents—vanishes overnight, she launches a relentless search through a city disintegrating into scarcity and chaos. Meanwhile, Boomba, the thief who stole her papers, is driven by an equally urgent need to protect his own family, setting in motion a dangerous chain of escalating crimes. Each desperate act pulls them closer into a collision course where survival demands impossible choices. Their parallel stories reveal how fierce parental love can transform ordinary people into extraordinary survivors when everything is at stake.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, thriller, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: desperate-measures, parallel-narratives
Setting: Kolkata
Period: near-future
224 pages · Hardcover · Knopf