Megha Majumdar w/ Kim Fu, A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF

National Book Award nominated author of A Burning, Megha Majumdar, visits the store to discuss her latest novel, A Guardian and a Thief, is a piercing and propulsive tour de force set in a near-future Kolkata, India in which two families seeking to protect their children must battle each other. She’ll be joined by local author Kim Fu.

In a near-future Kolkata, Ma, her two-year-old daughter, and her elderly father are just days from leaving the collapsing city behind to join Ma’s husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After procuring long-awaited visas from the consulate, they pack their bags for the flight to America. But in the morning they awaken to discover that Ma’s purse, containing their treasured immigration documents, has been stolen.

Set over the course of one week, A Guardian and a Thief tells two stories: the story of Ma’s frantic search for the thief while keeping hunger at bay during a worsening food shortage; and the story of Boomba, the thief, whose desperation to care for his family drives him to commit a series of escalating crimes whose consequences he cannot fathom. With stunning control and command, Megha Majumdar paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of two families, each operating from a place of ferocious love and undefeated hope, each discovering how far they will go to secure their children’s future as they stave off encroaching catastrophe.

A masterful new work from one of the most exciting voices of her generation.

Megha Majumdar is the author of the novel A Guardian and a Thief, which was named a finalist for the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize, as well as a selection of Oprah’s Book Club. Her debut novel, the New York Times bestseller A Burning, was nominated for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, and the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medal. It was a TODAY show Read With Jenna Book Club Pick and a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick. In India, it won a Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar. A Burning was named one of the best books of 2020 by media including The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, The Atlantic, Vogue, and TIME. Majumdar is the recipient of a Whiting Award, as well as of fellowships from the Civitella Ranieri and Hawthornden foundations. Born and raised in Kolkata, India, and educated at Harvard and Johns Hopkins, she now lives in New York.

Kim Fu is the author of two novels, a collection of poetry, and most recently, the story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, winner of the Washington State Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, as well as a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Ignyte Awards, and the Shirley Jackson Awards. Fu lives in Seattle, Washington.