
Saraswati
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $30.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Salima Saxton
-
By:
-
Gurnaik Johal
About this listen
* AN INDEPENDENT BEST BOOK OF 2025 * A GUARDIAN BOOK TO LOOK FORWARD TO *
As a holy river returns, seven lives change course in this masterpiece debut for fans of David Mitchell, Zadie Smith and Eleanor Catton
'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.
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
We Pretty Pieces of Flesh
- A Novel
- By: Colwill Brown
- Narrated by: Colwill Brown
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Ask anyone non-Northern, they’ll only know Donny as punchline of a joke or place they changed trains once ont way to London.” But Doncaster’s also the home of Rach, Shaz, and Kel, bezzies since childhood and Donny lasses through and through. Never mind that Rach is skeptical of Shaz’s bolder plots; or that Shaz, who comes from a rougher end of town, feels left behind when the others begin plotting a course to uni; or that Kel sometimes feels split in two trying to keep the peace―the girls are inseparable, their friendship as indestructible as they are.
By: Colwill Brown
-
Days of Light
- By: Megan Hunter
- Narrated by: Stephanie Racine
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of The End We Start From, now a major film starring Jodie Comer, and taking inspiration from the influential artists and intellectuals of the Bloomsbury Group, Days of Light is a sweeping, sensual historical novel of art, desire, and faith set against the backdrop of a changing England.
By: Megan Hunter
-
The Book of Guilt
- By: Catherine Chidgey
- Narrated by: George Naylor, Alison Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1979. Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a secluded New Forest home, part of the government's Sycamore Scheme. Every day, the triplets do their chores, play their games and take their medicine, under the watchful eyes of three mothers: Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night.
-
-
SO good! Haunting and immersive
- By Kaye R on 07-07-25
-
The South
- A Novel
- By: Tash Aw
- Narrated by: Windson Liong
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When his grandfather dies, Jay travels south with his family to the property they’ve inherited, a once flourishing farm that has fallen into disrepair. The trees are diseased, the fields parched from months of drought. Jay’s father, Jack, sends him out to work the land, or whatever land is left. Over the course of these hot, dense days, Jay finds himself drawn to Chuan, the son of the farm’s manager, different from him in every way except for one.
By: Tash Aw
-
Our Beautiful Boys
- A Novel
- By: Sameer Pandya
- Narrated by: Shahjehan Khan
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vikram Shastri has always been a good kid. He’s got a 4.6 GPA, listens to his parents, barely hits the parties, and is on track for a fancy college. But when he gets the chance to play on his high school football team, his world suddenly starts to shift. Basking in their recent victory, Vikram and his teammates Diego and MJ attend a party at an abandoned house in the Southern California foothills, located right below three ancient caves. They find themselves lost in the dark of night in one of the caves, carried away by male bravado, with a classmate who has annoyed them for years.
-
-
Cool Kids Break Bad
- By Suzanna on 05-30-25
By: Sameer Pandya
-
When the Cranes Fly South
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Ridzén, Alice Menzies - translator
- Narrated by: Ifan Huw Dafydd
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bo is running out of time. Yet time is one of the few things he’s got left. These days, his quiet existence is broken up only by daily visits from his home care team. Fortunately, he still has his beloved elkhound Sixten to keep him company … though now his son, with whom Bo has had a rocky relationship, insists upon taking the dog away, claiming that Bo has grown too old to properly care for him. The threat of losing Sixten stirs up a whirlwind of emotion, leading Bo to take stock of his life, his relationships, and the imperfect way he’s expressed his love over the years.
By: Lisa Ridzén, and others
-
We Pretty Pieces of Flesh
- A Novel
- By: Colwill Brown
- Narrated by: Colwill Brown
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Ask anyone non-Northern, they’ll only know Donny as punchline of a joke or place they changed trains once ont way to London.” But Doncaster’s also the home of Rach, Shaz, and Kel, bezzies since childhood and Donny lasses through and through. Never mind that Rach is skeptical of Shaz’s bolder plots; or that Shaz, who comes from a rougher end of town, feels left behind when the others begin plotting a course to uni; or that Kel sometimes feels split in two trying to keep the peace―the girls are inseparable, their friendship as indestructible as they are.
By: Colwill Brown
-
Days of Light
- By: Megan Hunter
- Narrated by: Stephanie Racine
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of The End We Start From, now a major film starring Jodie Comer, and taking inspiration from the influential artists and intellectuals of the Bloomsbury Group, Days of Light is a sweeping, sensual historical novel of art, desire, and faith set against the backdrop of a changing England.
By: Megan Hunter
-
The Book of Guilt
- By: Catherine Chidgey
- Narrated by: George Naylor, Alison Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1979. Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a secluded New Forest home, part of the government's Sycamore Scheme. Every day, the triplets do their chores, play their games and take their medicine, under the watchful eyes of three mothers: Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night.
-
-
SO good! Haunting and immersive
- By Kaye R on 07-07-25
-
The South
- A Novel
- By: Tash Aw
- Narrated by: Windson Liong
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When his grandfather dies, Jay travels south with his family to the property they’ve inherited, a once flourishing farm that has fallen into disrepair. The trees are diseased, the fields parched from months of drought. Jay’s father, Jack, sends him out to work the land, or whatever land is left. Over the course of these hot, dense days, Jay finds himself drawn to Chuan, the son of the farm’s manager, different from him in every way except for one.
By: Tash Aw
-
Our Beautiful Boys
- A Novel
- By: Sameer Pandya
- Narrated by: Shahjehan Khan
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vikram Shastri has always been a good kid. He’s got a 4.6 GPA, listens to his parents, barely hits the parties, and is on track for a fancy college. But when he gets the chance to play on his high school football team, his world suddenly starts to shift. Basking in their recent victory, Vikram and his teammates Diego and MJ attend a party at an abandoned house in the Southern California foothills, located right below three ancient caves. They find themselves lost in the dark of night in one of the caves, carried away by male bravado, with a classmate who has annoyed them for years.
-
-
Cool Kids Break Bad
- By Suzanna on 05-30-25
By: Sameer Pandya
-
When the Cranes Fly South
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Ridzén, Alice Menzies - translator
- Narrated by: Ifan Huw Dafydd
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bo is running out of time. Yet time is one of the few things he’s got left. These days, his quiet existence is broken up only by daily visits from his home care team. Fortunately, he still has his beloved elkhound Sixten to keep him company … though now his son, with whom Bo has had a rocky relationship, insists upon taking the dog away, claiming that Bo has grown too old to properly care for him. The threat of losing Sixten stirs up a whirlwind of emotion, leading Bo to take stock of his life, his relationships, and the imperfect way he’s expressed his love over the years.
By: Lisa Ridzén, and others