Saraswati : A Book of the Year in Telegraph, Independent and Guardian, Gurnaik Johal

When the waters of the Saraswati, a river of legend, start to rise in a corner of northern India, seven scattered descendants of a forbidden marriage are unexpectedly swept up in its current. Satnam, adrift from his life in London, is drawn into a contentious scheme to restore the river.

Nathu, an archaeologist, ventures from Nairobi to a dig site that might reveal artefacts of a lost civilisation. And elsewhere in former lands of empire - in Singapore, Canada, Mauritius and Pakistan - the ripples are felt across generations. Gurnaik Johal's panoramic debut deftly animates the passions that bind us to our histories and each other.