First publication (outside of India) for this playful and moving masterpiece of psychological intrigue and feminist space-making by the International Booker winner

In this Indian modern classic by the International Booker Prize-winning author, roofs are meant for wild things, for romance and for play. They are realms of freedom – freedom from the male gaze, sexual freedom and freedom from society. Chachcho and Lalna use their roofs to build a friendship that transcends time and memory.

‘One of the finest Hindi writers, Geetanjali has created for herself a thoughtful, lyrical and contemporary fictional world, which is free from moral posturing and political hectoring. And Rahul Soni’s English translation of The Roof Beneath Their Feet is attentive to its poetic nuances and intelligently responsive to its complexity.’ Alok Bhalla

‘In The Roof Beneath Their Feet, Geetanjali Shree has created a dazzling, multifaceted narrative that plays around with shifting time and perception, leading the reader on a wild journey as only she can. Rahul Soni’s fleet-footed translation keeps up with Shree’s pyrotechnics, nimbly evoking a world like no other.’ Jeremy Tiang

‘Geetanjali Shree’s prose is animated – the walls and doors have a special role to play. They hold people’s secrets. They have seen and heard things. They have eyes and ears, but none of the biases of people.’ Hindustan Times

‘What does mourning look like? What is the nature of grief? These are some of the questions that Geetanjali Shree explores. In The Roof Beneath Their Feet, grief takes different forms. It spreads everywhere. Memory becomes grief. This is a lucid meditation on desire, grief and belonging.’ Hindustan Times

‘English and Hindi meld into each other to bring to life such wondrous yet strange worlds, and the role of language in our shared dreams.’ Scroll

‘The Roof of Beneath Their Feet is not to be read as just a novel but perhaps as an answer to the larger questions of love, memories, language, and loneliness.’ *Scroll *

‘One of the finest Hindi writers, Geetanjali has created for herself a thoughtful, lyrical and contemporary fictional world, which is free from moral posturing and political hectoring. And Rahul Soni’s English translation of The Roof Beneath Their Feet is attentive to its poetic nuances and intelligently responsive to its complexity.’ Alok Bhalla

‘This is a playful, suggestive and lyrical work of fiction in the best traditions of the modern Indian novel. She [Geetanjali] plays language and memory like musical instruments. Words construct her text while the silences constitute the subtext. The roof in the novel becomes a space, something like the virtual world, where alternative lives are played out, and instinct and imagination break free of fragile social mores and conventions. liberatingly uninhibited and intensely poetic.’ K. Satchidanandan

‘Full of exuberance and inventiveness.’ John Self, The Guardian

Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand won the 2022 International Booker Prize. Her work, six novels and five short story collections, known for innovative use of language and structure, is translated into many Indian and foreign languages, with further translations on their way. She lives in New Delhi.

Rahul Soni is a writer, editor and translator. He has edited Home from a Distance, an anthology of Hindi poetry in English translation, and has translated poetry (including Magadh by Shrikant Verma), prose (including Geetanjali Shree's The Roof Beneath Their Feet and Pankaj Kapur's novella Dopehri) and children's literature.