Chatto and Windus to publish Deepa Anappara’s debut, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Chatto & Windus are thrilled to announce acquisition of one of the most sought-after titles of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018, Deepa Anappara’s debut Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, a vivid and heartbreaking novel set in the slum settlements of a fictional North Indian city. When local children start disappearing, nine-year-old Jai, an aficionado of reality police shows, turns detective in an attempt to find his missing friends.

Clara Farmer, Publishing Director, Chatto & Windus says:‘Djinn Patrol is less a reading experience than an encounter with the rattle-tattle energy of the basti where Jai and his friends live, captured with great fondness and humanity. Deepa Anappara holds her readers captive with an unflinching portrayal of slum life, yet which allows for the fierce warmth of family life, that shows how a community can be forged in times of trouble, and how the bold and loveable Jai and his not-his-assistant Pari seek out the truth, however distressing. I already hold this novel close to my heart, and so I’m sure will hundreds of thousands of others to come.’

Deepa Anappara worked as a journalist in India, reporting on human rights and education. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from UEA and is the winner of the Lucy Cavendish prize, the Bridport prize for her fiction, and also the second £10,000 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award 2018.

Anne Enright, chair of the award, and the Man Booker prize winning author of The Gathering said: ‘We care about these characters from the first page and our concern for them is richly repaid. This is storytelling at its best – not just sympathetic, vivid, and beautifully detailed, but also completely assured and deft… Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a modern tale that works an ancient seam of the story-telling tradition. Not many writers can make it look this easy. What a privilege to be one of Deepa Anappara’s early readers. There are many more to come.’ 

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara will be published in 2020.