The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

The story centres on Anjum, who creates a home for the abandoned and excluded in an Old Delhi graveyard, and Tilo, an architect whose life becomes intertwined with Kashmir and its political turmoil. When Tilo takes responsibility for an abandoned baby, the lives of these characters converge in unexpected ways.

Arundhati Roy is an acclaimed Indian novelist, essayist and political writer. Her debut novel, The God of Small Things, won the Booker Prize in 1997. Her writing frequently engages with questions of social justice, politics, human rights and inequality, combining lyrical prose with strong social commentary.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness moves between Delhi, Kashmir and other parts of India, connecting the personal stories of people affected by social exclusion, violence and political conflict. Anjum, once known as Aftab, builds a community among the dead in a Delhi graveyard, while Tilo becomes caught between three men and the turbulent realities of Kashmir. Their stories eventually intersect through an abandoned child. The novel is a meditation on belonging, identity, love, grief and resistance, while offering a complex portrait of contemporary India.