Keynote
A Man Booker Prize long-listed novel about violence, love, and religion in modern India
Book Title
Sleeping on Jupiter
Subtitle
A Novel
Cover Image
- Longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize
Winner of the 2016 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature
Body
On a train bound for the seaside town of Jarmuli, known for its temples, three elderly women meet a young documentary filmmaker named Nomi, whose braided hair, tattoos, and foreign air set her apart. At a brief stop en route, the women are unprepared to witness a sudden assault on Nomi that leaves her stranded as the train pulls away.
Later in Jarmuli, among pilgrims, priests, and ashrams, the women disembark only to find that Nomi has managed to arrive on her own. What is someone like her, clearly not a worshipper, doing in this remote place? Over the next five days, the women live out their long-planned dream of a holiday together; their temple guide pursues a forbidden love; and Nomi is joined by a photographer to scout locations for a documentary. As their lives overlap and collide, Nomi’s past comes into focus, and the serene surface of the town is punctured by violence and abuse as Jarmuli is revealed as a place with a long, dark history that transforms all who encounter it. A haunting, vibrant novel long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and short-listed for the Hindu Literary Prize, Sleeping on Jupiter is a brilliantly told story of contemporary India from an internationally acclaimed writer.
Later in Jarmuli, among pilgrims, priests, and ashrams, the women disembark only to find that Nomi has managed to arrive on her own. What is someone like her, clearly not a worshipper, doing in this remote place? Over the next five days, the women live out their long-planned dream of a holiday together; their temple guide pursues a forbidden love; and Nomi is joined by a photographer to scout locations for a documentary. As their lives overlap and collide, Nomi’s past comes into focus, and the serene surface of the town is punctured by violence and abuse as Jarmuli is revealed as a place with a long, dark history that transforms all who encounter it. A haunting, vibrant novel long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and short-listed for the Hindu Literary Prize, Sleeping on Jupiter is a brilliantly told story of contemporary India from an internationally acclaimed writer.
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About the Author
Credit: Sheela Roy
Praise
- “Concise [and] elegant. . . . The novel's examination of violence, sexism, and spirituality is powerful.”—The New Yorker
- “The world [Roy] creates is ambitiously imagined, her characters possessed of an inner verity.”—The New York Times Book Review
- “[Sleeping on Jupiter] searingly juxtaposes eroticized imagery, vulnerable little girls, and guru-worshipping tourism.”—Vogue
- “An unflinching novel from one of India's greatest living authors.”—O, The Oprah Magazine
