A State of Freedom

"Man Booker Prize short-listed Mukherjee (for The Lives of Others) gathers a cast of untethered characters to present urgent, even beseeching, testimony on how the titular 'state of freedom' is too often more impossible dream than achievable reality." - Library Journal, starred review

“Neel Mukherjee's breathtaking A State of Freedom is that rarest, most wonderful of things: a book both literarily dextrous, full of unforgettable scenes, images, language, and characters, as well as a furious, unsparing, clear-eyed study of how a society's gross inequities of money and power demean and deform the human condition. The most astonishing and brilliant novel I have read in a long, long time.” - Hanya Yanagihara

“Neel Mukherjee’s A State of Freedom is a novel like no other—its prose is so rich, unequivocally precise and graceful that it allows Mukherjee to illustrate the most horrific of experiences with stunning compassion. A State of Freedom is more than a novel—it is an immersive experience. He writes like a painter, his language is his palette, bringing to life the variation of India’s cities and towns in a dense multi-layered world where modern life, by accident or intention, tears at traditions that are centuries old.” - A.M. Homes

“Fans of Neel Mukherjee expect that his books will be exceptional and once again he has produced just that. A State of Freedom is formally audacious, vividly observed, and deeply imagined. Unsentimental yet full of heart, grimly real yet mysteriously dreamlike, with characters who continue to live their complicated lives long after you've turned the last page. Just a beautiful, beautiful piece of work.” - Karen Joy Fowler

“A State of Freedom is an extraordinary achievement. Subtle and multi-layered, it's a study of the brutality of social divisions, written with tremendous tenderness; a work that insists on the dignity of figures obliged to lead undignified lives. A powerful, troubling novel. The moment I finished it, I began it again.” - Sarah Waters

“An extraordinary, compassionate, complex, hard-hitting wonder of a book. It is in a class of its own.” - Rose Tremain