The House Next to the Factory
Delicate and finely textured, Sonal Kohli’s extraordinary debut shows a changing India over three decades through the lens of one family and the house that they live in. Published to critical acclaim by HarperCollins India and Swift press, UK.
"...one of the most human and heartening embodiment of what language and narrative can do with the great paradox of the banal." The Hindu
"In The House Next to the Factory you will encounter worlds that might be precisely yours, if only you are brave enough to acknowledge their simplicity." India Today
"Masterfully done... a beautiful example of how much can be achieved through sparing prose." Hindustan Times
"...assured debut.." Deccan Herald
"...a master storyteller..." The Telegraph
"...Kohli, by borrowing from the best techniques of short and long form fiction manages to create something unique..." The New Indian Express
"...a vivid and remarkable picture of people who are often considered unremarkable." Money Control
The House Next to the Factory shows a changing India over three decades through the lens of one family and the house that they live in.
Life in the house is humdrum and confining, but on a rare evening out, Kavya sets off in search of a nun; a beloved teacher is caught in the aftermath of the anti-Sikh riots; a loyal servant worries over his relationship with a low caste woman; while in England, an aunt reads William Trevor and pines for all that she has left behind. Over the years, the family’s steel utensil business blossoms, and amid the clanging of metal and the churning of machines, the household transitions from bourgeois to elite. Yet at thirty, Kavya finds herself in Paris, hoping to get past the sorrows of her young life…
Delicate and finely textured, Sonal Kohli’s extraordinary debut lays bare the complexities of class and culture and the difficulties as well as excitements of change, even as it evokes loves and triumphs, the pull of incongruous desires and the tragedies of everyday life.