China Room

At a farm in Punjab, northern India, three girls are married to three brothers in one ceremony. For weeks afterwards, segregated from the men in the ‘china room’, heavily veiled, and meeting their husbands only under cover of darkest night, none of the girls is entirely sure which brother is hers.

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In 1929 young bride Mehar struggles with her family’s expectations whilst seventy years later her great-grandson discovers what her story can teach him about his own path.

'A gorgeous, gripping read' Kamila Shamsie
'A multi-generational masterpiece' Daily Mail

Mehar, a young bride in rural Punjab, is trying to discover the identity of her new husband. It is 1929, and she and her sisters-in-law - married to three brothers in a single ceremony - spend their days hard at work on the family farm, sequestered from contact with the men. When Mehar develops a theory as to which of them is hers, a passion is ignited that will put more than one life at risk.

Spiralling around Mehar's story is that of a young man who in 1999 flees from England to the deserted sun-scorched farm. Can a summer spent learning of love and of his family's past give him the strength for the journey home?

Readers love China Room
***** 'I didn't want it to end'
***** 'What. A. Book.'
***** 'Beautifully crafted...a story as old as time'
***** 'A novel of thwarted loves'

Shortlisted for the 2022 Rathbones Folio Prize
Longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize

'Amazing storytelling...gripping and very moving' BBC Radio 4, Open Book

'I'm blown away by it' Tessa Hadley

'Moving...fresh and nourishing' The Times