Penguin to publish Jahnavi Barua

Penguin announced award-winning Jahnavi Barua's book 'Undertow', which is her return to fiction with a coming-of-age tale (based in the North-East) that is an exploration of relationships and themes of home and the outside, native and outsider. Jahnavi Barua is a writer based in Bengaluru. Her first book, Next Door, a collection of short fiction, was published by Penguin India in 2008 to wide critical acclaim. The second, a novel, Rebirth, was published in 2010 and shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize.

Undertow is about Torun Goswami, who along with his wife Usha cast their daughter away for marrying out of her community. Rukmini's daughter returns to Assam as a researcher and sets on a path of reconnecting with her grandfather. The publishers call the book set in Guwahati, an exploration of home and outside, the native and the outsider.