The Spoiled Heart

Praise for The Spoiled Heart:

“Sahota has a surgeon’s dexterous hands, and the reader senses his confidence . . . a plot-packed, propulsive story . . . There is an easeful precision to Sahota’s prose reminiscent of Kamila Shamsie and Jhumpa Lahiri, a painful irony that evokes Percival Everett, and a grand human downfall alongside a battle of ideas that is Ibsenesque.” —The New York Times

“Me again, banging on about Sunjeev Sahota. I won’t stop until you read him . . . His new book, The Spoiled Heart, finds a timeless imprint in the hot metal of the moment . . . ‘I was always just trying to connect,’ Sajjan tells us — pleads with us — as the novel accelerates toward a series of increasingly shocking revelations. But how much can really ever be known or should be? That’s the paradox this brilliant novel wrestles with and one that will consume any reader who picks it up.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

“A novel that examines local politics, issues of race, gender and identity, combined with the open wound of a past trauma, is no simple task. In another writer’s hands, the disparate plot strands might simply collapse. It is testament to Sahota’s immense skill that not only do they hold together, but that the novel’s most disturbing revelations are left almost to the final page . . . Each of Sahota’s books builds on the ambition of the previous one: restless, inquiring, utterly topical. The Spoiled Heart may be his finest yet.” —Financial Times

“A provocative, humane drama.” —The Washington Post

“[A] scruffy, passionate novel . . . The Spoiled Heart captures the brute emotional force of DEI-based politics.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Perfectly true, and perfectly judged . . . every person, however narratively significant, feels intimately alive. His characters don’t just appear, they emerge and grow.” —Sam Byers, The Guardian

“A grand tale of human downfall and a battle of ideas.” —The New York Times Book Review‘s Paperback Row

“This is a Booker contender . . . The pages fly. It’s gripping . . . irresistible . . . brilliant.” —John Self, The Times

“Sahota was named as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelist in 2013, and The Spoiled Heart shows why. Intellectually ambitious . . . smart and sophisticatedly written.” —Daily Telegraph

“[Sahota] skilfully reframes the arc of one man’s downfall through the slippery new lens of modern identity politics.” —Daily Mail

“[Sahota] possesses a brave touch.” —The New Statesman

“The Spoiled Heart is a highly accomplished and timely political morality tale.” —The Spectator

“[Sahota] is an enormously sensitive novelist who works assiduously to shed light on life as it is lived, his characters always tangibly real, and fully three-dimensional. The Spoiled Heart . . . balances its various narratives with subtle skill and a page-turning tension.” —i

“After three novels, British-Indian author Sunjeev Sahota’s latest, The Spoiled Heart, is another skilful piece of work that confirms what a gifted writer he is . . . A multi-layered, intriguing and compelling page-turner . . . Deftly structured, with rich characterisation and a lively pace, the author has explored equality and equity and the nuances of disparate political views in building solidarity within the working class, while neatly blending politics into the narrative without sounding didactic . . . With two Booker nominations (one, a finalist) under his belt, will Sahota score a hat-trick with this latest? I’d wager that.” —The Hindu

“Some writers have a gift for making ordinary lives as compelling as anything you’d find in an epic adventure. This ability to chart the human condition goes beyond technical proficiency or what we’d generally consider literary merit. Sunjeev Sahota has this gift. . . . [His] prose is as precise, confident, and startlingly wise when describing the depths of tragedy as the banalities of a transaction in a local shop. . . . The Spoiled Heart is one of those books that will take root quickly and grow in your soul.” —BookPage (starred review)

“A beautifully constructed tale . . . Sahota fascinates with his nuanced and multifaceted depictions of race and class, and he weaves in plenty of suspense as the union election unfolds. [The Spoiled Heart] is electrifying.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Sahota delivers a viscerally charged novel . . . [with] plenty of heart and suspense.” —Booklist (starred review)

“A thoughtful exploration of race and class tensions in modern-day Britain and of the lingering effects of a long-ago tragedy . . . satisfyingly surprising.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Fearlessly contemporary and flawlessly observed, The Spoiled Heart confirms Sunjeev Sahota’s position as one of our essential novelists.” —Karan Mahajan, author of the National Book Award finalist The Association of Small Bombs

“In this thoughtful, searching excavation of interlocking tragedies and contemporary politics, Sunjeev Sahota offers us a novel at once Shakespearean and thrillingly of our time. The Spoiled Heart hurts to read, but in all the good ways.” —Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of the National Book Award finalist All This Could Be Different