Her narrations are subtle yet come with utmost characterization

Daughter of the renowned novelist Anita Desai, author Kiran Desai grew up surrounded by books, for she found the world of written words realistic than the one that existed around her. Born in Delhi, she lived the early years of her life in Pune and Mumbai, and left India at 14 to live in England with her mother before they moved to the United States. It was in the US that Desai studied creative writing and soaked in her years of reading into her writing. While her first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, was published in 1998 that won multiple notable at a very young age, her second book, The Inheritance of Loss went on to make her a globally acclaimed writer for it won the 2006 Man Booker Prize. Here are a few works of Kiran Desai that are a must-read for literature lovers.

The Inheritance of Loss Desai’s second novel was published in 2006 and took the author seven years to complete. The main themes of the book are migration, living between two worlds, and past and present. Set in 1986, the story revolves around the lives of Biju and Sai. While Biju is an Indian living in the United States illegally, son of a cook who works for Sai's grandfather. Sai is an orphan living in Kalimpong with her maternal grandfather, Jemubhai Patel. In this tale of two worlds traversing through riots of emotions, the author alternates between narrations. The action of the novel takes place. This book won a number of awards, including the 2006 Man Booker Prize, the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award, and the 2006 Vodafone Crossword Book Award.

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard This is Desai’s first novel that was published in 1998. Set in the Indian village of Shahkot, state of Punjab, the story follows the exploits of a young man, Sampath Chawla who is trying to avoid the responsibilities of adult life. The narration picks up with Sampath being fed up with his life in Shahkot makes a journey to a guava orchard and settles himself in a guava tree, where he uses the gossip he learned while working at the post office to convince people he is clairvoyant and soon becomes a popular holy man. Interestingly, Desai based her first book on the real-life story of Kapila Pradhan who lived on a tree for 15 years. This real-life incident became the author's inspiration and one can find similarities between the novel and Pradhan's life on the tree. In 1998, the book won the top prize for the Betty Trask Awards.