List: $24.99
| Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49
Saraswati
A Novel
Author: Gurnaik Johal
Narrator: Salima Saxton
Unabridged: 13 hr 39 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 02/03/2026
Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Nature, World Literature
Synopsis
As a holy river miraculously returns, seven lives change course in this masterpiece debut by a rising literary star.
Centuries ago, the myths say, the holy river Saraswati flowed through what is now Northern India. But when Satnam arrives in his ancestral village for his grandmother's funeral, he is astonished to find water in the long-dry well behind her house. The discovery sets in motion a contentious scheme to unearth the lost river and build a gleaming new city on its banks, and Satnam—adrift from his job, girlfriend, and flat back in London—soon finds himself swept up in this ferment of Hindu nationalist pride.
As the river alters Satnam's course, so it reveals buried ties to six distant relatives scattered across the globe—from an ambitious writer with her eye on legacy to a Kenyan archaeologist to a Bollywood stunt double—who are brought together in a rapidly changing India. Brimming with love, lust, violence, and loss, Gurnaik Johal's magisterial novel deftly animates the passions that bind us to our histories, our lands, and each other.
Centuries ago, the myths say, the holy river Saraswati flowed through what is now Northern India. But when Satnam arrives in his ancestral village for his grandmother's funeral, he is astonished to find water in the long-dry well behind her house. The discovery sets in motion a contentious scheme to unearth the lost river and build a gleaming new city on its banks, and Satnam—adrift from his job, girlfriend, and flat back in London—soon finds himself swept up in this ferment of Hindu nationalist pride.
As the river alters Satnam's course, so it reveals buried ties to six distant relatives scattered across the globe—from an ambitious writer with her eye on legacy to a Kenyan archaeologist to a Bollywood stunt double—who are brought together in a rapidly changing India. Brimming with love, lust, violence, and loss, Gurnaik Johal's magisterial novel deftly animates the passions that bind us to our histories, our lands, and each other.
