{"product_id":"the-spoiled-heartisbn-9780593655986","title":"The Spoiled Heart","description":"\u003cb\u003e“Will consume any reader who picks it up.” —Ron Charles, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA brilliant and riveting story of ambition, love, family secrets, and unintended consequences, from “bold storyteller” (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e) and two-time Booker Prize nominee Sunjeev Sahota\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNayan Olak keeps seeing Helen Fletcher around town. She’s returned with her teenage son to live in the run-down house at the end of the lane, and—though she’s strangely guarded—Nayan can’t help but be drawn to her. He hasn’t risked love since losing his young family in a terrible accident twenty years ago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the wake of the tragedy, Nayan’s labor union, long a cornerstone of his community, became the center of his life: a way for him to channel his energies into making the world a better—fairer, as he sees it—place. Now he’s decided to mount a run for the leadership. But his campaign pits him against a newcomer, Megha, who quickly proves to be a more formidable challenger than he anticipated.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Nayan’s differences with Megha spin out of control, complicating the ideals he’s always held dear, he grows closer to Helen—and unknowingly barrels toward long-held secrets about how their pasts might be connected. Suddenly, much more is threatened than his chances of winning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn one sense a tragedy in the classic mold, tracing one man’s seemingly inexorable fall, \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart \u003c\/i\u003eis also an explosively contemporary story of how a few words or a single action—to one person careless, to another, charged—can trigger a cascade of unimaginable consequences. A vivid and multilayered exploration of the mysteries of the heart, how community is forged and broken, and the shattering impact of secrets and assumptions alike, it is a blazing achievement from one of Britain’s foremost living writers.\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Sahota has a surgeon’s dexterous hands, and the reader senses his confidence . . . a plot-packed, propulsive story . . . There is an easeful precision to Sahota’s prose reminiscent of Kamila Shamsie and Jhumpa Lahiri, a painful irony that evokes Percival Everett, and a grand human downfall alongside a battle of ideas that is Ibsenesque.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Me again, banging on about Sunjeev Sahota. I won’t stop until you read him . . . His new book, \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart,\u003c\/i\u003e finds a timeless imprint in the hot metal of the moment . . .  ‘I was always just trying to connect,’ Sajjan tells us — pleads with us — as the novel accelerates toward a series of increasingly shocking revelations. But how much can really ever be known or should be? That’s the paradox this brilliant novel wrestles with and one that will consume any reader who picks it up.” \u003cb\u003e—Ron Charles, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A novel that examines local politics, issues of race, gender and identity, combined with the open wound of a past trauma, is no simple task. In another writer’s hands, the disparate plot strands might simply collapse. It is testament to Sahota’s immense skill that not only do they hold together, but that the novel’s most disturbing revelations are left almost to the final page . . . Each of Sahota’s books builds on the ambition of the previous one: restless, inquiring, utterly topical. \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart \u003c\/i\u003emay be his finest yet.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A provocative, humane drama.”\u003cb\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] scruffy, passionate novel . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart \u003c\/i\u003ecaptures the brute emotional force of DEI-based politics.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Perfectly true, and perfectly judged . . . every person, however narratively significant, feels intimately alive. His characters don’t just appear, they emerge and grow.”\u003cb\u003e —Sam Byers, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This is a Booker contender . . . The pages fly. It’s gripping . . . irresistible . . . brilliant.”\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e—John Self, \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sahota was named as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelist in 2013, and \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart\u003c\/i\u003e shows why. Intellectually ambitious . . . smart and sophisticatedly written.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Sahota] skilfully reframes the arc of one man’s downfall through the slippery new lens of modern identity politics.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Sahota] possesses a brave touch.”\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe New Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“The Spoiled Heart \u003c\/i\u003eis a highly accomplished and timely political morality tale.”\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Sahota] is an enormously sensitive novelist who works assiduously to shed light on life as it is lived, his characters always tangibly real, and fully three-dimensional.\u003ci\u003e The Spoiled Heart\u003c\/i\u003e . . . balances its various narratives with subtle skill and a page-turning tension.” \u003cb\u003e—i\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“After three novels, British-Indian author Sunjeev Sahota’s latest, \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart\u003c\/i\u003e, is another skilful piece of work that confirms what a gifted writer he is . . . A multi-layered, intriguing and compelling page-turner . . . Deftly structured, with rich characterisation and a lively pace, the author has explored equality and equity and the nuances of disparate political views in building solidarity within the working class, while neatly blending politics into the narrative without sounding didactic . . . With two Booker nominations (one, a finalist) under his belt, will Sahota score a hat-trick with this latest? I’d wager that.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Hindu\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Some writers have a gift for making ordinary lives as compelling as anything you’d find in an epic adventure. This ability to chart the human condition goes beyond technical proficiency or what we’d generally consider literary merit. Sunjeev Sahota has this gift. . . . [His] prose is as precise, confident, and startlingly wise when describing the depths of tragedy as the banalities of a transaction in a local shop. . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart \u003c\/i\u003eis one of those books that will take root quickly and grow in your soul.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—BookPage\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A beautifully constructed tale . . . Sahota fascinates with his nuanced and multifaceted depictions of race and class, and he weaves in plenty of suspense as the union election unfolds. [\u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart\u003c\/i\u003e] is electrifying.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sahota delivers a viscerally charged novel . . . [with] plenty of heart and suspense.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A thoughtful exploration of race and class tensions in modern-day Britain and of the lingering effects of a long-ago tragedy . . . satisfyingly surprising.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Fearlessly contemporary and flawlessly observed, \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart \u003c\/i\u003econfirms Sunjeev Sahota’s position as one of our essential novelists.” \u003cb\u003e—Karan Mahajan, author of the National Book Award finalist \u003ci\u003eThe Association of Small Bombs\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In this thoughtful, searching excavation of interlocking tragedies and contemporary politics, Sunjeev Sahota offers us a novel at once Shakespearean and thrillingly of our time. \u003ci\u003eThe Spoiled Heart \u003c\/i\u003ehurts to read, but in all the good ways.” \u003cb\u003e—Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of the National Book Award finalist \u003ci\u003eAll This Could Be Different\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eSunjeev Sahota\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eChina Room\u003c\/i\u003e, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction; \u003ci\u003eThe Year of the Runaways\u003c\/i\u003e, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize and was awarded a European Union Prize for Literature; and\u003ci\u003e Ours Are the Streets\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Sheffield, England, with his family.","brand":"Viking","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305315455205,"sku":"NP9780593655986","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593655986.jpg?v=1730760118","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-spoiled-heartisbn-9780593655986","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}