Small Deaths

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Description

A staggering debut novel of murder, loyalty, love, and survival at all costs, set in the teeming underbelly of Calcutta's most infamous neighbourhood.

In Calcutta's notorious red-light district, Lalee aspires to a better life. Her unfailingly loyal client Tilu Shau has dreams too. A heady romantic and marginal novelist, Tilu is in love with the indifferent Lalee and wants to liberate her from her street life with marriage. But when a fellow sex worker and young mother is brutally murdered, the solicitous madam of the Blue Lotus invites Lalee to take the woman's place "upstairs" as a high-end escort. The offer comes with the promise of a more lucrative life but quickly spirals into violence, corruption, and unfathomable secrets that threaten to upset the fragile stability of Lalee's very existence. As Tilu is drawn deeper into his rescue mission, he and Lalee embark on life-altering journeys to escape a savage fate.

As much a page-turner as it is poignant, Small Deaths is a brilliantly drawn modern noir that exposes the reality of society's preyed-upon outcasts, their fierce resilience, and the dangerous impediments that stand in the way of their dignity, love, and survival.

'Rijula Das has evaded the prevalent tropes of writing. It is very difficult to pin down the genre she is writing in is it a love story, for instance; is it a murder mystery; is it a novel about social justice The book gives light to the popular and wrong notion that literature needs to necessarily be heavy. It manages to achieve everything that good literature does while at the same time being entertaining. It is full of beautiful humorous touches and outstanding at zooming in to details.' Judges of the JCB Prize for Literature 2021

'An intensely gripping tale of a crime and an investigation set against the dark side of the city of Calcutta; yet, at the same time, it is a story that is luminous with redeeming touches of love and hope, and a final sense of justice.' Judges of the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award 2021

'Rijula Dass book is as gripping as the best crime fiction but also as intricate and well constructed as good literature should be. Its relentless action, but the characters are not caricaturesThe observations are so acute and at the same time so funny.' Amit Varma

'Rijula Das surprises you with everything in this book: the writing, the scenes, the characters, the story. A debut you cannot stop reading.' Arunava Sinha

'Addictive and hilarious. Rijula Das is a writer to watch.' Avni Doshi, author of Burnt Sugar, shortlisted for the Booker Prize

'It takes a keen insight to portray women like Lalee, Maya, Amina, and Sonia in all their profundity and shallowness. Das knows her women well.' Feminism in India

Reviews

An Amazon Best Book of the Month: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

"[Rijula] Das's searing debut centers on the plight of sex workers in contemporary Calcutta, India...This devastating novel is in turn touching and painful to read. Das, a Bengali-to-English translator, is definitely a writer to watch." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Small Deaths by Rijula Das is a real find--a masterly debut....The plot is deftly managed, moving almost effortlessly to the bittersweet ending. This is a highly accomplished debut."--The Spectator

"A deeply human portrait...bitterly cynical, surprisingly humorous, and astonishingly beautiful." --CrimeReads

"Peopled with fully realized characters and locations, Small Deaths is a tour de force first novel that grips the reader and doesn't let go." --Authorlink

"It takes a keen insight to portray women like Lalee, Maya, Amina, and Sonia in all their profundity and shallowness. Das knows her women well." --Feminism in India

"Rijula Das has evaded the prevalent tropes of writing. It is very difficult to pin down the genre she is writing in--is it a love story, for instance; is it a murder mystery; is it a novel about social justice The book gives light to the popular and wrong notion that literature needs to necessarily be heavy. It manages to achieve everything that good literature does while at the same time being entertaining. It is full of beautiful humorous touches and outstanding at zooming in to details." --Judges of the JCB Prize for Literature 2021

"An intensely gripping tale of a crime and an investigation set against the dark side of the city of Calcutta; yet, at the same time, it is a story that is luminous with redeeming touches of love and hope, and a final sense of justice." --Judges of the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award 2021

"Das writes of a dark world where abuse and death sit side by side with love and loyalty and grace. The story is heartbreaking and awful and wonderful, all within the structure of crime fiction." --Gillian Flynn on Today.com

"Rijula Das's book is as gripping as the best crime fiction but also as intricate and well constructed as good literature should be. It's relentless action, but the characters are not caricatures...The observations are so acute and at the same time so funny." --Amit Varma

"Rijula Das surprises you with everything in this book: the writing, the scenes, the characters, the story. A debut you cannot stop reading." --Arunava Sinha

"Addictive and hilarious. Rijula Das is a writer to watch." --Avni Doshi, author of Burnt Sugar, shortlisted for the Booker Prize

Author Bio

Rijula Das is an author and Bengali-to-English translator. She received her PhD in creative writing and prose-fiction from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where she taught writing. Rijula received a 2019 Michael King Writers Centre Residency in Auckland, New Zealand, and the 2016 Dastaan Award for her short story "Notes from a Passing." Her short story "The Grave of the Heart Eater" was long-listed for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2019. Rijula's short fiction and translations have appeared in Papercuts, Newsroom, New Zealand, and the Hindu. Small Deaths, her first novel, was long-listed for the JCB Prize for Literature and won the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award in 2021. It is currently being adapted for television. She lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand. For more information visit www.rijuladas.com.