Square Books is delighted to be hosting an event for the Booker Prize winning author Kiran Desai on September 23, 2025, for her new novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny.
It is especially meaningful to have her here on the publication date of her first novel in nearly twenty years.
We were fortunate to welcome her to Oxford with her debut, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, and have long admired her work. Desai’s last novel, The Inheritance of Loss, won the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 2006. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny has been longlisted for the Booker Prize this year.
“The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is a stunning achievement – a sweeping tale which stretches over decades and continents following two young Indian writers whose star-crossed relationship with one another unfolds over the years as the tides of race, class and history push them apart and force
them back together.. At once intimate and expansive, it’s a love story, a family saga and an unforgettable journey.” – Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books
“A spectacular literary achievement. I wanted to pack a little suitcase and stay inside this book forever.” –Ann Patchett
“Desai’s artful prose is subtle even when pitched on a grand scale. . . . This ambitious yet intimate saga is well worth the wait.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review
About the book
When Sonia and Sunny first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they are immediately captivated yet also embarrassed by the fact that their grandparents had once tried to matchmake them, a clumsy meddling that served only to drive Sonia and Sunny apart.
Sonia, an aspiring novelist who recently completed her studies in the snowy mountains of Vermont, has returned to her family in India. She fears that she is haunted by a dark spell cast by an artist to whom she had once turned for intimacy and inspiration. Sunny, a struggling journalist resettled in New York City, is attempting to flee his imperious mother and the violence of his warring
clan. Uncertain of their future, Sonia and Sunny embark on a search for happiness together as they confront the many alienations of our modern world.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is the sweeping tale of two young people navigating the many forces that shape their lives: country, class, race, history, and the complicated bonds that link one generation to the next. A love story, a family saga, and a rich novel of ideas, it is the most ambitious and accomplished work yet by one of our greatest novelists.
About the author
Kiran Desai is the bestselling author of the novels Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard and The Inheritance of Loss, which won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Born in India, she came to the United States when she was sixteen and now lives in New York City.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
By Kiran Desai
$32.00
Publisher: Hogarth
ISBN: 9780307700155
About the Author
