Book Club: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiran Desai

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
by Kiran Desai

Culture | Thurs 17th Sept | 7:00-8:30 pm

Monthly meet up to discuss a great read, along with drinks & good company.
*Doors open at 6.30pm. The book club begins at 7pm.

“A sweeping page-turner [...] a kind of Romeo and Juliet story for a modern, globalized age.” —Publishers Weekly

When Sonia and Sunny first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they are immediately captivated yet also embarrassed by the fact that their grandparents had once tried to matchmake them, a clumsy meddling that served only to drive Sonia and Sunny apart. Sonia, an aspiring novelist who recently completed her studies in the snowy mountains of Vermont, has returned to her family in India. She fears that she is haunted by a dark spell cast by an artist to whom she had once turned for intimacy and inspiration. Sunny, a struggling journalist resettled in New York City, is attempting to flee his imperious mother and the violence of his warring clan. Uncertain of their future, Sonia and Sunny embark on a search for happiness together as they confront the many alienations of our modern world.

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is the sweeping tale of two young people navigating the many forces that shape their lives: country, class, race, history, and the complicated bonds that link one generation to the next.
ABOUT The Author

kiran Desai is an Indian writer and the bestselling author of three novels, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard and The Inheritance of Loss, which won both the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is her latest work of fiction, shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. The judges described the novel as an epic of love and family, spanning generations and countries, that is the most "ambitious and accomplished" work by Desai. Born in India, she moved to the us when she was sixteen and now lives in New York City. In January 2015, The Economic Times listed her as one of 20 most influential global Indian women.