‘I knew there was something special about One Small Voice from its very first page. There was a confidence and distinctiveness to the narrative voice that was incredibly arresting and original. As I read on I found myself captivated and intrigued: by the parallel stories of the child who witnesses an act of violence that shapes the course of his life, and of the young man learning how to live with the scars of his past and his present – and the web of experiences and relationships that connects them. One Small Voice is a wonderfully textured novel: there is humour and heartbreak, violence and love, and some dazzling set pieces. It has powerful things to say about trauma, on both the individual and the societal level; about collective cruelty and collective guilt; about freedom, justice, art and friendship. But above all, I was struck by the way it illuminates the tumultuous changes that have taken place in India over the last few decades and the impact they have had on each of the generations – especially the young. It felt like something I hadn’t read before, in its focus on the lives of young middle-class Indians, rooted in their culture yet global in their outlook, who are straddling modernity and tradition, and forging new relationships with their chosen families while also finding ways to relate to the generations that came before them.