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Description
Bloomsbury presents Railsong by Rahul Bhattacharya, read by Sudha Bhuchar.
"Magnificent . . . I would follow Miss Chitol to the ends of the earth." -Kamila Shamsie
"Profoundly tender [and] vigorously alive to the currents of national change." -Megha Majumdar
From the Man Asian Prize–shortlisted author Rahul Bhattacharya, a breathtaking novel about a woman forging a life for herself on the railways of twentieth-century India.
In a country rapidly modernizing after independence, Animesh Chitol bends his caste title into a quirky surname, moves his family to the brand-new township of Bhombalpur Railway Workshop, and throws in his lot with an optimism-filled future. Then tragedy strikes. Into the empty space left by his wife's passing grows Chitol's only daughter, the middle child, Charu. As India moves from steam to diesel locomotives, through a great strike and state repression, Charu flees to Bombay, alarmed by her narrow prospects. There she quests for the means to live on her own terms.
Amidst the everyday discriminations of modern India, Charu forges her own destiny, becoming a railway woman and census enumerator who keeps her heart open-sometimes guilelessly-to her country's vast possibility. Sweeping, elegiac, and at times wonderfully comic, Railsong is one woman's coming of age and a beautifully complex love letter to the finely wrought world of the Indian railways and a country beset by religious and political upheaval.
Product details
| Published | Feb 17 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Audiobook |
| Duration | 17 hours and 42 minutes |
| ISBN | 9781639736249 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Bhattacharya . . . serves up an illuminating tale about a woman fighting for her agency in India . . . Through Charu's experiences, Bhattacharya provides a wide-angle view of India's inequality and patriarchal gender roles, all while depicting in intimate detail how his protagonist struggles to live on her own terms.
Publishers Weekly
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This big novel is curiously weightless . . . those who are patient will find beauty in small moments . . . This elusive, tantalizing novel aims for the effect of the raga-to conjure “the sadness, the richness, the pleasure of the waiting and the wandering.
The Wall Street Journal
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[Railsong] brims with heart and compassion and is clearly deeply felt . . . There are promotions, examinations, heartbreaks-and they're all rendered with an artful and sympathetic eye. The novel bristles with outrage at the difficulty of living a life of one's own and the disappointments of marriages and careers; marvels at the quicksilver joys of solidarity
The Guardian
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[A] sprawling tale, told with flair and heart.
California Review of Books
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The novel's witty, slightly Dickensian tone offers both humor and poignancy. This bildungsroman concerning one woman's quest to define her identity also brings India into sharp focus.
Kirkus Reviews
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Tracing Charu's story against tidal forces of history is brilliant, and her perception of feminism's impact is moving.
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