Gulabiya: A Novel

The first English translation of an Angika-language novel―a fierce, unforgettable story of love, land and resistance from the Bihar heartland.On the hot floodplains of the Kosi River, Gulabiya is a young farmhand in love with Balesar, the manager of a nearby farm’s fieldhands. When Balesar decides to till his own land, he is joined in this enterprise by his Gulabo. Their dreams, most moderate, attract the wrath of Balesar’s landlord. Gulabiya is betrayed by her own family, leading to a heartbreaking separation from her lover. Meanwhile, the village’s wealthy power brokers scheme to sabotage Balesar’s success. The powerful believe they have suppressed yet another attempt at resistance, but they couldn’t be more wrong. What follows is a tale that shocked and scandalized readers when it was first published in 2008, a story that breaks down the realities of farm labour and life in twenty-first-century India. In this caste- and class-ridden society, Gulabiya and Balesar’s audacious escape from servitude will shake the very earth they till for others. Shortlisted for the 2024 Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation, Gulabiya is Abha Purbey's debut in English translation, rendered from the Angika by upcoming translators Shivangi Pandey and Tejaswi Rawal.