Pippa Rann Books is delighted to announce the UK release of this epic novel in the first week of February this year (see exact dates and locations below).
Capturing the imagination of readers — young and old — since its release in India in January 2024.
Winning critical acclaim and becoming a national bestseller in record time (10 reprints that year).
Receiving the Kalinga Literature Award, the Delhi Literature Festival Award for Fiction, the REC–VoW Award 2025, the FICCI Special Jury Award 2025, the Pandit Hari Dutt Sharma Award 2025, and other literary distinctions.
Already feted at the UN, in New York and in Boston (Harvard University and Massachusetts House of Representatives).
Already being translated for publication into five languages.
To be a premier, multi-season film-series for OTT release worldwide by Abundantia Entertainment.
A multi-generational novel that is a period drama (set against the backdrop of India’s independence struggle), a bildungsroman (where the protagonists discover themselves as they grow, to become admirable young leaders of a new generation), and a coming-of-age narrative – a captivating love story and grand romance of a kind that has not been written in recent times. A novel about and for young women and men.
The launch of the international edition of the Swallowing the Sun by Pippa Rann Books, UK (the best-established imprint outside India which focuses wholly on books about India and the Indian diaspora), marks a climactic moment in the novel’s journey.
The novel will find resonance with international readers as the story is essentially about young, English-educated and Westernised Indians who seek to reclaim their civilisational identity and glory, evoke India’s and particularly Maharashtra’s cultural renaissance as the soul-force in the freedom struggle they engage with in different ways – at the level of the individual and at the level of the nation.
Overcoming self-doubt and rewriting colonial narratives about who they are, they try to reimagine themselves and their societies to carve out the idea of India.
British readers will appreciate the setting of the British Raj, the strong cast of Indian and British characters, each with their own motivations and compulsions, and the incidents, themes and ideas which evoke complex and multifaceted Indo-British bonds.
Swallowing the Sun is historical fiction, covering the first part of the twentieth century from 1918 to 1950 during the most turbulent and transformative periods of India’s fight for independence from British colonial rule. At the same time, it is contemporary - speaking to today’s rich promise and potential for radical transformation and calling on youth to play their part in building a New India amidst daunting external and internal challenges.
The novel reflects the intense socio-political churn and ideological contests of the time - for instance, between the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi and Veer Savarkar, between blaming the colonial masters and decrying the divisions within Indian society. The youth of that time were just as conflicted about these dichotomies as they are today.
A compelling and original plot with dramatic twists the novel is set primarily in Ratnagiri, in Bombay, and in Nasik (all in the state of Maharashtra, western India) but incorporates vital plot elements from other parts of India –particularly, Guna, Indore, Benares, Shimla, and Delhi, thus bringing in more of a pan-India perspective.
‘Singing’ with lyrical prose and poetry, and replete with exciting incident and dialogue, its 60 chapters (each with their own intriguing and evocative titles), tell stories within stories, creating a sprawling fictional world where multiple narratives weave in and out of each other’s paths.
Swallowing the Sun has all the makings of an epic saga – quintessentially Indian, but with universal and international appeal. It addresses powerful themes of daring to achieve what seems impossible, like Saint Muktabai’s ant “flying into the sky and swallowing the sun” (from which the novel gets its title); of keeping faith and persisting, whether in triumph or tragedy; and of the indefatigable human spirit holding on to hope amidst the surreal uncertainties of destiny.
The beating heart of the novel is the feisty, brilliant and phenomenally daring Malati who is loved by readers because of her journey of empowerment from a traditional village in Maharashtra where she, along with her sister Kamala, is exceptionally allowed to go to school by her progressive father, Baba. In school, she fights a much bigger schoolboy, the bully Bhika, to assert her rights, winning an unequal wrestling match – a preview of other battles she fights later in life, as she learns to bear losses while taking courage from her wins. From there, she goes on to destinations where Indian women have not been earlier, and is enabled to do anything she wishes, and become the person she wants to be – each time, along the way, swallowing the sun.
For photos, media enquiries, further details of these events, and to be invited to participate, please contact:
February the 2nd, 2026: City Chambers, Edinburgh, Scotland 07894 703697; saidodda@gmail.com
February the 3rd, 2026: London School of Economics 07791 248 509; johnloakes.oakes@gmail.com
February the 4th, 2026: The House of Lords 07791 248 509; johnloakes.oakes@gmail.com
February the 5th, 2026: King’s College London 07791 248 509; johnloakes.oakes@gmail.com
Book page
![Front cover of "Swallowing the Sun"](https://mediaserver.responsesource.com/press-release/149148/Swallowing+the+Sun+FRONT+cover+o.jpg "Front cover of "Swallowing the Sun"")