The Village

    Nikita Lalwani's second novel, THE VILLAGE is published by Penguin in the UK, Penguin India, Flammarion in France, De Bezige Bij in Holland and Random House in the USA. In May 2013 it was one of eight novels awarded the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize for the best of British fiction. Set in a village modelled on a real-life open prison in India, THE VILLAGE is a gripping story about manipulation and personal morality, about how truly frail our moral judgement can be.

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    REVIEWS for THE VILLAGE, (VIKING UK 2012):

    ‘***** Five Stars. Lalwani reveals an authoritative eye for both the camaraderie and hardship found in rural India.’ The Telegraph (UK)

    “ (A) powerful second novel from Nikita Lalwani. One of the novel’s great strengths is in how it maintains an ambience of mystery and menace, partly due to the secrecy shrouding the inmates … culminating in an ending more heart-wrenching and morally muddled than can exist in a neatly packaged television episode.’  New York Times Book Review( USA)

    ‘ A fine follow-up to Lalwani’s feted debut novel, which shows the growth of an elegant young talent.’ The Independent ( UK)

    ‘The Village is a masterclass in compression, zooming in from a wide angle establishing shot to focus on individual lives….The inmates’ stories evoke larger questions about justice and privacy, power and powerlessness. Lalwani is also very good at subverting perspective.The notion of freedom is turned on its head.’ The Guardian (UK)

    ‘ (An) extraordinary novel … Lalwani writes with wonderful clarity and intelligence.’ The Times ( UK)

    ‘Sharp and uncompromising, (The Village) is a ripsnorting read that leaves us wondering where the needle will be pointing at the moment the moral compass is smashed to pieces.’ The Independent on Sunday (UK)

    ‘ A thoughtful novel that envelops us in the oppression and beauty of the rural prison, yet resists simplification and stereotypes. Like the documentary process itself, her novel reveals only fragments of its characters – yet each voice is distinct, believable and stubborn in its refusal to be easily known.‘ Financial Times (UK) 

    ‘Thoughtful and beautifully written, The Village… ultimately asks what it means to represent something “real”.’ The Observer (UK)

    ‘Idealistic, ambitious, conflicted and confounded, but with a strong moral intelligence at her core, Ray is a beautifully realised character…. the dramatic denouement towards which the novel hurtles seems utterly credible and convincing.’ The Hindustan Times (India)

    ‘Intriguing…Lalwani captures the hunger for self-improvement tinged with a pervasive sense of melancholy’ The Sunday Telegraph (UK)

    ‘Gripping … Nikita Lalwani’s second novel simmers with understated menace.’ Marie Claire (UK)

    ‘The Village is extraordinary… What Nikita Lalwani is really brilliant at is voice and people.’ Alex Heminsley, BBC Radio 2, The Arts Show (UK)