The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is a profoundly moving and beautifully crafted novel about love, identity, resilience, and the lives that often go unseen. Arundhati Roy, in this remarkable follow-up to The God of Small Things, weaves a story that is both sweeping in scope and intimate in emotion.

The novel opens at magic hour, when the sun has set but the light lingers, and the city itself seems alive with mystery and possibility. Here we meet Anjum, formerly Aftab, who runs a guesthouse in an old graveyard and becomes a sanctuary for society’s lost, broken, and marginalized souls. We also meet Tilo, a fiercely independent architect who lives in a “country of her own skin” and is loved by three men yet remains profoundly self-directed. When Tilo adopts an abandoned baby, her life becomes intertwined with Anjum’s, setting the stage for a tale of extraordinary courage and connection.

Spanning years and landscapes, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness explores the struggles and triumphs of those who are often overlooked, while celebrating human resilience, love in its many forms, and the small miracles that make life worth living. Roy’s writing is lyrical, evocative, and intensely alive — each page a journey into both heartbreak and hope.