Follow the illicit liaisons, political ambitions, and mortal betrayals of one prominent Delhi family in a sweeping novel from National Book Award finalist Karan Mahajan.

The sons and daughters of SP Chopra, one of India’s political architects, live together in a sprawling Delhi complex, vying for influence in a family shaped by the great man’s legacy. By the late 1970s, the still-young nation is on the brink of transformation, and the Chopras are scrambling to define their own futures. Sachin Chopra leaves for America, followed by his bride, Gita, eager to forge a life beyond the pressures of the family compound. Yet Delhi keeps pulling them back—even as Sachin’s predatory uncle, Laxman, hounds Gita. A man of restless ambition, Laxman ascends through the ranks of a rising Hindu nationalist movement, caught between his political aspirations and his personal transgressions. As India erupts in violence and long-buried secrets come to light, the embattled Chopras must reckon with the cost of power, the weight of tradition, and the shifting nature of love and allegiance.

Karan Mahajan worked on The Complex during his 2018-2019 Fellowship at the Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. He will discuss his book with writer Keith Gessen.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Karan Mahajan is the author of The Association of Small Bombs, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, won the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, and was named one of the Ten Best Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review. His debut novel, Family Planning, was a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize. He has been selected as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists, and his writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, the New York Review of Books, and other publications. He is an associate professor of Literary Arts at Brown University.

Keith Gessen is the author of A Terrible Country, which he worked on during his Cullman Center Fellowship in 2014-2015. He teaches at the Columbia Journalism School and is a contributing writer at the New Yorker.

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ACCESSIBILITY

In-Person | Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service at least two weeks in advance of the event: please submit your request via this form. This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs. 

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The Cullman Center is made possible by a generous endowment from Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman in honor of Brooke Russell Astor, with major support provided by Mrs. John L. Weinberg, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Estate of Charles J. Liebman, The von der Heyden Family Foundation, John and Constance Birkelund, and The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, and with additional gifts from Helen and Roger Alcaly, The Rona Jaffe Foundation, The Arts and Letters Foundation Inc., William W. Karatz, Merilee and Roy Bostock, and Cullman Center Fellows.