PVPF 2024

Never Never Land: A Haunting Novel by Namita Gokhale, Unveiled at Jaipur Literature Festival

Discover 'Never Never Land' by Namita Gokhale, a haunting novel exploring love, aging, and loneliness, unveiled at Jaipur Literature Festival.
on Jan 30, 2024

Speaking Tiger Books is delighted to announce the publication of Never Never Land by Namita Gokhale, award-winning writer and festival director.

In this haunting new novel set in the Himalayan region of Kumaon, one of India’s most distinctive literary stars examines—with as much tenderness as brutal honesty—female friendship, love, the ageing of the body, the mind and memory, and loneliness.

The highly anticipated book will be unveiled at the prestigious Jaipur Literature Festival on 3 February 2024, and will hit bookshelves by 22 February 2024.

Looking forward to the release, Namita Gokhale, says: ‘Never Never Land is a novel that kept surprising me while I was writing it; the story seemed to flow almost by itself and the characters appeared to have a life of their own.’

‘Together with the acclaimed and award-winning Paro, Things to Leave Behind and Shakuntala, this novel would easily count as Gokhale’s finest. We are privileged to have published it,’ says Ravi Singh, Publisher, Speaking Tiger.

THE BOOK

Lonely, middle-aged, at a personal and professional dead-end, Iti Arya flees the towers and bright lights of Gurgaon for The Dacha, a remote cottage in the Kumaon Himalayas where she had spent perhaps the happiest years of her childhood. Over the course of that single monsoon in the hills, in the company of two grandmothers—ninety-something Badi Amma and Rosinka Paul Singh, aged one hundred and two—and a mysterious girl who may be her sister, Iti will make peace with her approximate life and quiet desolation.

She will witness the vanity of youth, but also its vulnerability and tenderness; the indignities of age, and also its courage and consolations. She will submit to life and the eternal spirit of the mountains.

With Never Never Land, Namita Gokhale shows, again, why she is one of India’s most original and daring writers, with an extraordinary understanding of the human condition.

THE AUTHOR

Namita Gokhale is a writer and festival director. Her work spans various genres, including novels, short stories, Himalayan studies, mythology and books for young readers. She is the author of twenty-three works of fiction and non-fiction, including the novels Paro: Dreams of Passion, Shakuntala, Jaipur Journals, Things to Leave Behind and The Blind Matriarch; and the edited anthologies Mystics and Sceptics: In Search of Himalayan Masters; Himalaya: Adventures, Meditations, Life (with Ruskin Bond), and (with Malashri Lal) In Search of Sita, Finding Radha and Treasures of Lakshmi. Gokhale is the recipient of several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award (2021). She is the co-founder and co-director (with William Dalrymple) of the famed Jaipur Literature Festival.

THE PUBLISHER

Speaking Tiger Books is an independent publishing company based in New Delhi. Founded in September 2014, the company publishes a diverse list comprising quality fiction and non-fiction from South Asia and the rest of the world. The list includes veterans and exciting new voices—among them, Nayantara Sahgal, Shanta Gokhale, Jerry Pinto, Wendy Doniger, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Mark Tully, Ravish Kumar, Ruskin Bond, Nandita Haksar, Harsh Mander, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, Mamang Dai, Salma, Easterine Kire, Gulzar, Madhavi Menon, Swapna Liddle, Devaki Jain, Selma Carvalho and Omair Ahmad. Its authors have won or been on the shortlists of almost all major literary prizes, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Crossword Book Award, the Hindu Literature Prize, the DSC Prize, the JCB Prize and the Tata Literature Live Awards.

Speaking Tiger also publishes books for children and young adults under its Talking Cub imprint, with authors like Paro Anand, Andaleeb Wajid, Bulbul Sharma, Ranjit Lal, Subhadra Sengupta, Bijal Vachharajani, Ashok Rajagopalan and Shabnam Minwalla.