#south asian authors

The China Room by Sunjeev Sahota

A multigenerational novel of love, oppression, trauma and the pursuit of freedom, inspired in part by the author’s own family history, China Room twines together the stories of a woman and a man separated by more than half a century but united by blood.

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China Room is a short but succinct novel, which tells the incredible story of Mehar, a 15 year old girl, who in trying to figure out the identity of her husband, who is married off to in a ceremony, along with two other brides, to a set of three brothers. Intertwining with her story, is the story of her great-grandson, and his recovery from addiction.

Sahota manages to tell this complex story in a way which is easy to follow. It draws you in, and once you start reading, it is hard to stop. I was completely captivated by Mehar, her curiosity, her innocence, her courage and her heartbreak.

I also saw the benefit of having Mehar’s story intertwine with our unnamed narrator, her great-grandson, who finds himself back in the China Room, recovering from addiction, and coming to terms with his own adolescent traumas.

Both of them, victims of things beyond their control, show am immense courage in the face of their struggles, and it is that courage which I think forms the heart of this novel, connecting and uniting them, over half a century later.

I definitely think it deserves its place in the Booker Longlist, and would give it 3.75 stars.