WINNER OF THE JCB PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
WINNER OF THE TATA LITerature LIVE FIRST BOOK AWARD
WINNER OF THE CROSSWORD BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION
WINNER OF THE TIMES OF INDIA AUTH(E)R AWARD FOR FICTION
WINNER OF THE WISCONSIN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE SAHITYA AKADEMI AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE DSC PRIZE FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE
FINALIST FOR THE MATHRUBHUMI BOOK OF THE YEAR
LONGLISTED FOR THE swansea university DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD
LONGLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR excellence in FICTION
AN INDIES INTRODUCE AND INDIE NEXT TITLE
A BARNES & NOBLE DISCOVER GREAT NEW WRITERS SELECTION
NAMED A NOTABLE BOOK OF 2019 BY THE WASHINGTON POST, THE ECONOMIST, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, THE TIMES, BOOKLIST
In the wake of her mother's death, Shalini, a privileged, naive and restless young woman from Bangalore, sets out for a remote Himalayan village in the troubled northern region of Jammu & Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to confront him. But upon her arrival, Shalini is brought face to face with Kashmir's politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. When life in the village turns volatile and old hatreds threaten to erupt into violence, Shalini finds herself forced to make a series of choices that could hold dangerous repercussions for the very people she has come to love.
selected reviews
“Consuming . . . Vijay’s command of storytelling is so supple that it’s easy to discount the stealth with which she constructs her tale, shifting time frames with seamless ease and juggling a wealth of characters who cling to the heart.” – NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“Ambitious . . . Vijay’s descriptions of the mountains, the people and their everyday lives are beautiful, and that makes the hidden ugliness all the more disturbing; this is a seriously impressive debut.” – THE TIMES (UK)
“A beautifully nuanced tale in these times of no nuance . . . A febrile tension pulsates on each page of this coming-of-age story…[A]n accomplished debut.” – THE HINDU
“A masterful piece of fiction. Vijay writes with an assurance surprising in a first-time novelist, and is a delight to read.” – OBSERVER (UK)
“Vijay probes grand themes—tribalism, despotism, betrayal, death, resurrection—in exquisite but unflowery prose, and with sincere sentiment but little sentimentality.” – NEW YORKER
“The Far Field offers something essential: a chance to glimpse the lives of distant people captured in prose gorgeous enough to make them indelible — and honest enough to make them real.” – WASHINGTON POST
“Ms. Vijay is an effortlessly assured prose writer . . . The Far Field is illuminating about the persecutions in Kashmir, but at its heart it is about the ironclad laws of class by which all India is ruled.” – WALL STREET JOURNAL
