18 June 2025
We are over the moon to announce that Saraswati by Gurnaik Johal has been shortlisted for the 2025 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize! Thank you to all the amazing Waterstones booksellers who read, connected with, and pitched for Gurnaik’s spectacular debut to make it onto this prestigious list. Bookseller Saba at Waterstones Bournemouth Castle Point said,
‘Saraswati is what you cross your fingers for when you read a debut: fearless, ambitious and strikingly assured. Deeply rooted in the culture of Punjab, Johal weaves an intricate tale so immersive and expansive that you have to pause every few pages to let his words wash over you before diving back in … This book won my heart in a million ways’
Congratulations to Gurnaik and the other shortlisted authors! We’re counting down the days until next month’s awards ceremony. Get your signed copy through Waterstones here.
Read more about Saraswati below.
‘Saraswati most certainly delivers, darting thrillerishly around the world to fold chewy themes of empire, populism and global warming into a cross-generational epic centred on seven strangers’ OBSERVER, Best New Novelists for 2025
‘Saraswati is a major achievement, and Johal a huge talent. This should be one of the biggest novels of the year’ Martin MacInnes, Booker-longlisted author of In Ascension
Centuries ago, the myths say, the holy river Saraswati flowed through what is now Northern India. But when Satnam arrives in his ancestral village for his grandmother’s funeral, he is astonished to find water in the long-dry well behind her house. The discovery sets in motion a contentious scheme to unearth the lost river and build a gleaming new city on its banks, and Satnam – adrift from his job, girlfriend and flat back in London – soon finds himself swept up in this ferment of Hindu nationalist pride.
As the river alters Satnam’s course, so it reveals buried ties to six distant relatives scattered across the globe – from an ambitious writer with her eye on legacy to a Kenyan archaeologist to a Bollywood stunt double – who are brought together in a rapidly changing India. Brimming with love, lush, violence and loss, Gurnaik Johal’s magisterial debut deftly animates the passions that bind us to our histories, our lands and each other.
