Publishers Weekly
03/29/2021
A London pizzeria owner helps undocumented people in the nuanced latest from Lalwani (Gifted). Nia, a Welsh-Indian 19-year-old, waits tables at Vesuvio, recently free from a childhood spent caring for her younger sister and neglectful, alcoholic, and drug-addicted mother. Shan, a Sri Lankan cook, is in debt to Vesuvio’s owner, Tuli, who set up Shan with a job and place to stay after he escaped from Sri Lanka and left his wife and child behind. Shan frequently wonders what motivated Tuli to help him, and what Tuli wants in return (“It became apparent over time that in order to borrow from this man, he was going to have to sit with him again and again, to what end?”). Meanwhile, Nia and Tuli discuss how to choose which people to help as Immigration Police scour the city. Their grasp on a sense of what’s right and wrong is further tested as Tuli and Shan get closer to locating Shan’s family in Sri Lanka through Tuli’s contacts. The descriptions of immigration issues are powerful, and so is Lalwani’s deep immersion in restaurant life: the gossip, the personalities among regulars and staff, and the surrogate family dynamics. Lalwani’s story surges with passion, intrigue, and a rigorous eye toward British immigration policy. Agent: Jacqueline Ko, Wylie Agency. (May)
From the Publisher
Lalwani has a knack for close observation of people: their mannerisms and motivations, the way they relate to each other in different situations… Crucially, though, pain is not the defining experience of these characters… Fiction is not a blueprint, but it can be a gilded mirror, or a four-dimensional map. Living, loving, dying—You People is an elegant work of all three.”
—The Seattle Times
“(R)avishing, insightful prose… (written with) great skill and empathic heart… Nikita Lalwani’s magical novel invites us to ponder generosity and human kindness.”
—Bookpage
“(S)urges with passion, intrigue, and a rigorous eye toward British immigration policy.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A sprawling cast that includes sharply drawn characters… Lalwani’s concern is the philosophical and moral questions surrounding migration.”
—The New York Times
“Writing in crisp, frank prose adorned with lyrical flourishes, Lalwani searingly exposes an urgent, universal story of humanity lost and (hopefully) found.”
—Shelf Awareness
“(C)ompact yet powerful… this timely and adept novel deserves wide readership.”
—Booklist
“A female lead who isn’t defined by a romantic story arc? Yes please. Lalwani’s serious, ravishing way of writing about the secret life of Britain is just what we need.”
—Times (UK)
“A lively, poetically written and above all compassionate book.”
—Sunday Times
“You People is a short, complex novel that shines a light behind the smiles at your local restaurant, and asks tough questions about the nature of goodness in an unfair society.”
—Sunday Telegraph (Book of the Week)
“Folds serious social issues into an entertaining plot.”
—Daily Mail
“Pulses with energy.”
—Mail on Sunday
“Timely and hopeful.”
—Cosmopolitan
“Lalwani’s vivid, intensely empathic novel raises profound moral questions while maintaining the momentum and urgency of a thriller.”
—The Lady
“This is a moving, authentic, humane novel which raises fundamental questions about what it means to be kind in an unkind world, and it will stay with me for a long time.”
—Guardian (UK)
“A startlingly original, continuously astute, and deeply compassionate novel. You People alerts us, in these dark times, to the possibility of human nobility.”
—Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger
“Beautiful and brilliant. The exquisite writing is vivid, poetic and perceptive; the characters alive and compelling. Everything I want from a novel. I loved it.”
—Stephen Merchant, co-creator of The Office
“This sinuous morality tale unfolds from alternating perspectives… there are worlds within worlds in this metropolis… Ms Lalwani’s prose has a balletic lightness.”
—Economist (UK)
“Lalwani leaves us with a lingering sense of extraordinary lives and events, in an utterly ordinary setting.”
—Financial Times
“Lalwani’s language is rich and sonorous, interwoven with vivid images that convey the depth of her characters’ lives and emotions with arresting clarity.”
—Irish Times
“Intelligent and heart-piercing?an exceptional novel about the Britain we live in, even if we choose not to see it.”
—Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire
“An opening onto a vivid world, whole in itself, not like anything else, fascinating, and so beautifully done, with fresh, alive perceptions and reactions, a tenderness towards people.”
?Tessa Hadley, author of Late in the Day
“(S)urges with passion, intrigue, and a rigorous eye toward British immigration policy.”
—Publishers Weekly
“(C)ompact yet powerful…this timely and adept novel deserves wide readership.”
—Booklist
“A female lead who isn’t defined by a romantic story arc? Yes please. Lalwani’s serious, ravishing way of writing about the secret life of Britain is just what we need.”
―Times UK
“A lively, poetically written and above all compassionate book.”
―Sunday Times
“You People is a short, complex novel that shines a light behind the smiles at your local restaurant, and asks tough questions about the nature of goodness in an unfair society.”
―Sunday Telegraph (Book of the Week)
“Folds serious social issues into an entertaining plot.”
―Daily Mail
“Pulses with energy.”
―Mail on Sunday
“Timely and hopeful.”
―Cosmopolitan
“Lalwani’s vivid, intensely empathic novel raises profound moral questions while maintaining the momentum and urgency of a thriller.”
―The Lady
“This is a moving, authentic, humane novel which raises fundamental questions about what it means to be kind in an unkind world, and it will stay with me for a long time.”
―Guardian (UK)
“A startlingly original, continuously astute, and deeply compassionate novel. You People alerts us, in these dark times, to the possibility of human nobility.”
―Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger
“Beautiful and brilliant. The exquisite writing is vivid, poetic and perceptive; the characters alive and compelling. Everything I want from a novel. I loved it.”
―Stephen Merchant, co-creator of The Office
“This sinuous morality tale unfolds from alternating perspectives… there are worlds within worlds in this metropolis… Ms Lalwani’s prose has a balletic lightness.”
―Economist (UK)
“Lalwani leaves us with a lingering sense of extraordinary lives and events, in an utterly ordinary setting.”
―Financial Times
“Lalwani’s language is rich and sonorous, interwoven with vivid images that convey the depth of her characters’ lives and emotions with arrest- ing clarity.”
―Irish Times
“Intelligent and heart-piercing - an exceptional novel about the Britain we live in, even if we choose not to see it.”
―Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire
“An opening onto a vivid world, whole in itself, not like anything else, fascinating, and so beautifully done, with fresh, alive perceptions and reactions, a tenderness towards people.”
―Tessa Hadley, author of Late in the Day
