Review: 'The Year of the Runaways,' by Sunjeev Sahota

There is a moment in Sunjeev Sahota's "The Year of the Runaways" when a character declares that "the best Indian families were the ones big enough to get lost in." At almost 500 pages, Sahota's multi-stranded novel about young illegal Indian immigrants carving out a new life for themselves in the north of England is also big enough to get lost in. We do so, and emerge blinking and emotionally drained from a unique reading experience.

British-born Sahota's Booker Prize-shortlisted novel follows the fortunes of three Indian men and one British-Indian woman. Randeep, Avtar and Tochi live cheek by jowl with other migrant workers in a house in Sheffield. They are picked up at dawn and driven to a construction site where they toil for a meager cash-in-hand wage — some of which is saved, most of which is spent on surviving. Sahota's female character, Narinder, has agreed to be Randeep's "visa-wife" in a marriage scam. After a year of duping the authorities, they will divorce, allowing Randeep to bring his parents and sisters over from India.

Gradually, and inevitably, the three men come to realize that they are locked in a vicious circle — existing rather than living, toiling, not working. Their Promised Land is a prison that offers no security and few benefits and that in time requires them to juggle many menial jobs.

"We're like flies trapped in a web," one worker comments. "Well, I don't intend on waiting for the spider."

Sahota charts his characters' many scrapes and challenges, their fears of police raids, deportation and criminal gangs, and their ground-down morale, worsening health and disintegrating friendships. In a bold move, Sahota also serves up four long back stories that in turn explain what made a devout Sikh woman break the law and three men trek by plane, ship and truck to work like slaves in a different country.

Tochi's back story runs to nearly 70 pages and is filled with every possible hardship, horror and injustice. As a chamar, or "untouchable," he and his family become victims of grotesque Hindu nationalist violence. And yet despite its length and bleakness, Tochi's tale is one of sustained brilliance that makes a powerful impact.

Other highlights range from masterfully dramatized set pieces to short, colorfully animated scenes. There is tension as immigration officers pay a visit; thrills when fellow worker Gurpreet becomes drunk, lecherous and vengeful; poignancy as call-center employee Randeep befriends a lonely old man at the other end of the line, and even comedy as culture-shocked characters navigate their first escalator or learn that in England, "Cars were only driven on roads and only in nice long columns."

Toward the end, Sahota gives hints of a budding romance and we discern the first green shoots of hope. But to find out whether perseverance finally triumphs over adversity, readers should make their own way and get lost in this sprawling, stunning novel.

Malcolm Forbes has written for the Times Literary Supplement, the Economist and the Daily Beast. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.