Indian novelist to publish second novel 20 years after

20 years after publishing her award-winning debut novel The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy’s second work of fiction, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, is due to come out in 2017.

The Indian novelist received the 1997 Booker Prize for Fiction for her debut novel The God of Small Things and was listed as one of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year for 1997. It reached fourth position on the New York Times Bestsellers list for Independent Fiction and it became the biggest-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author.

Despite the huge success, Roy stopped writing fiction for 20 years focusing on activism, human rights, nuclear weapons and environmental issues.

Although she has published a wide range of nonfiction, covering topics from the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan to a condemnation of India’s nuclear tests, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, to be published by Hamish Hamilton will be her second novel.

“I am glad to report that the mad souls (even the wicked ones) in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness have found a way into the world, and that I have found my publishers,” said Roy.

Roy’s publishers called her new novel “one of the finest we have read in recent times”, and “an incredible book … on multiple levels”.

“Only Arundhati could have written this novel,Utterly original. It has been 20 years in the making. And well worth the wait.” added her literary agent David Godwin.

The 54-year-old, who won the Booker Prize in 1997, is one of India's best-known authors.

She graced the cover of Elle magazine recently, speaking out against the stereotyped Indian beauty.

"I'm a black woman. Most of us are. Ninety percent of us are. This obsession that Indians have with white skin and straight hair makes me sick," she told the magazine.

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