A dazzling journey into the heart of India and its most vulnerable citizens - its impoverished and disenfranchised children. A novel at once brimming with the wonder of childhood innocence, and constrained by the heartache of living amidst injustice and prejudice. Deepa Anappara shows us a modern, dangerously divided India that has long needed to be seen.” —Nazanine Hozar, author of Aria

An interview with Deepa Anappara – City Short Courses An interview with Deepa Anappara – City Short Courses

In this transporting debut novel, three friends venture into the most dangerous corners of a sprawling Indian city to find their missing classmate.In a sprawling Indian city, three friends venture into the most dangerous corners to find their missing classmate . . . A stunningly original tale… I stayed up late every night until I finished, reluctant to part from Deepa Anappara’s heart-stealing characters.” —Etaf Rum, New York Times bestselling author of A Woman Is No Man

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara – review

Deepa Anappara’s richly textured and delightfully observed debut evokes the sights and sounds of a sprawling Indian city. Every detail rings true... Day-to-day life in the slums has such vitality that you immediately warm to the residents, with their resilience and dry humour Max Davidson, Mail on Sunday Moving and unpredictable...By story’s end, Jai has grown more hesitant, humbled by tragedy and evils beyond his once-childish imaginings. Even so, his remarkable voice retains a stubborn lightness, a will to believe in the possibility of deliverance in this fallen world. In the second of the three living-saving stories, we’re told: “This story is a talisman. Hold it close to your hearts.” Toward the close of the novel, Jai, defeated and distraught, says, “I’ll never watch Police Patrol again […] A murder isn’t a story for me anymore; it’s not a mystery either.” Stories may not save lives, but they can tell of a truth. And for this, we can hold Deepa Anappara’s story close to our hearts. What a child narrator affords Anappara is the ability to write about institutional injustice and negligence, unimaginable atrocities and harsh lived-realities, Hindu-Muslim tensions — and to speak truth to power, through fiction, humor, and satire (a form often associated with political disillusionment). These sections, which are all the more resonant of the current political climate in India, are hard to read. Jai’s banter, tongue-in-cheek-ness, well-meaning deeds, and wild audacity easily entice the reader into his (mis)adventures in the dark, abandoned alleys of Bhoot Bazaar — but of course, Jai and his friends were never just playing detective. It’s easy to forget this. Vintage Lead Debut. When kids go missing in an Indian slum, nine-year-old Jai takes matters into his own hands: an irresistible child narrator to captivate the literary/commercial market

Xenophobic violence, political power plays and hate perpetrators run amok while it is the common man who still has to work, worry about how to feed his family and survive amidst this violence. Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line highlights this ugly face of India – one where we still haven’t learnt to embrace the true meaning of secularism. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line] makes an urgent case for the protection of the country’s youngest and most vulnerable Timothy Harrison, Vogue, *Books to Look Our For in 2020* My elbows wobble on the bed, so I lean my legs against the wall. Runu-Didi stops counting the seconds I have been topsy-turvy and says, "Arrey, Jai, I'm right here and still you're cheating-cheating. You have no shame, kya?" Her voice is high and jumpy because she's too happy that I can't stay upside down for as long as she can.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line - Penguin Books UK

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Penguin Random House Canada for an ecopy of this novel. I am providing my honest review. This was released February 2020. Just because you read books doesn't mean you know everything," Faiz tells her. "I work. Life's the best teacher. Everyone says so." a b c d "The 2020 JCB Prize for Literature Shortlist Announced". Outlook. 25 September 2020. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020 . Retrieved 1 October 2020. The book draws attention to the large number of children who go missing in India daily. Did you know close to 200 children go missing there each day? Jai takes us along with him to school, among his small group of friends, within his home in the basti with his loving parents, and chachis who keep an eye on him, too, and in the local bazaar. One by one, children in the basti disappear, and everyone becomes more unsettled, rightfully so, seeking police help with little avail. The author’s insightful note at the end is a must-read for why she wrote the book and its importance to her.

Anappara's characters brim with swagger and spirit and she creates a world of wit, warmth and heart Nina Stibbe Created from whole cloth, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a richly textured rendition of a world little seen in Indian literature. There is no desire to smooth and tidy in fiction what is untidy in life, but instead there is a pay off for the reader in a story that is as quietly troubling as it is convincing.” —Mridula Koshy, author of If It is Sweet Anappara is currently working towards a doctorate in historical fiction at the University of East Anglia. [2] [10] Awards and recognition [ edit ] But what begins as a game turns sinister as other children start disappearing from their neighborhood. Jai, Pari, and Faiz have to confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force, and rumours of soul-snatching djinns. As the disappearances edge ever closer to home, the lives of Jai and his friends will never be the same again.