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Author Interview Sunjeev Sahota
Sunjeev Sahota’s latest book combines a tragic family mystery with the tale of a bitterly fought union battle
combines a family myst the Leſt.
combines a family mystery with a union leadership contest and addresses the way that identit politics divide the Leſt.
y with a union leadership t identit politics d
Betraying his loosening ties with his motherland (his grandparents and father emigrated from Punjab in the 1960s), it is Sahota’s first book set entirely on British soil—all the others visit the subcontinent— and the first in Chesterfield, the former mining t wn where he grew up. He now lives in
ing his loosening ties with
his motherland ( is grandpar and father emigrated from Punjab in the 1960s), it is Sahota’s first book set entirely on British soil—all the others visit the subcontinent— and the first in Chesterfield, the former mining town where he grew up. He now lives in Sheffield, where witnessing his children’s middle-class upbringing has sparked reflection on his contrasting childhood. “They’re growing up in a place that hasn’t been immiserated and brought to heel and where their classmates haven’t been told that their problems are the fault of the
s middle-class upbrin
contrasting childhood. “Th growing up in a place tha ed and b
e their c ld th
are the fault of the cultural other.” The surprise has been finding that their comfortable relationship with England has eased his own, finally freeing him to look back on Chesterfield.
surprise has elationship with
England has e back on Che The Spoi e
Carraw When Sah as
fr
The Spoiled Heart is narrated by an “alter ego”, Sajjan —an intermediary in the stle of The Great Gatsby’s Nick Carraway—who bears striking correspondences to Sahota. When asked if he, like Sajjan, hates discussing his work, Sahota explains how he finds writing fiction exposing, as if he’s standing in the rain in a howling gale, wearing a flimsy shirt.
by an “alt of The Great Gatsby’s Nick ng corr an, hat finds writing fiction e he rain in a howling gale, weari Shifting chronol the best way t Madeleine Feeny @madeleinefeeny M 2024
y video interview with Sunjeev Sahota is briefly and sweetly interrupted by one of his children, of which there are three, aged 11, nine and seven.
For while becoming a twice Booker-nominated author and Associate Professor in Durham Universit’s English department—not bad for a maths graduate who didn’t read a novel until age 18—Sahota has also been deep in the work of child-raising, a fact that informs his fourth novel, his most personal yet. Writen with the depth of character and precision of language that distinguish the Derby-born author, The Spoiled Heart is a book about parenthood—the vulnerabilit, the effort, and, in one case, the shatering loss of it.
case, Sahota has established himself as one of our foremost r
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The seed for the novel came years ago, befor Chinae novel came years ago, before Room. Aſter trying first and third person, and consideringr ing first and third person, an y to tell the story, Sahota hit on device. “I realised this writer fig
ta hit on the outsider-
narrator device. “I realised this writer figure was going to have to act a bit like a detective.” Shiſti ies, drip-feeding revelations, th
ective.” Shiſting between chro-
nologies, drip-feeding revelations, the resulting structure keeps you riveted as Sajjan leads you through the tragicps you riveted as Sajjan leads yo ystery at the heart of the book. Returning home to Chesterfi Sajjan is mistaken for Nayan of his parents, fellow Sikh s carries a ghastly weight, fo
myst
erfield in February 2020, ayan Olak, the son of friends
carries a ghastly weight, for his mother and four-year-old son were killed in a fire i to unravel. Sajjan disc le at the union
ents, fellow Sikh shopkeepers. Nayan’s name e in 1997, causing his marriage
unravel. Sajjan discovers that Nayan has since leſt his role at the union and become an anti-racist activist. Sensing a story, dr bereaved parent” On weekly h
drawn to the “hypnotic allure of the ent”, he reconnects with him.
the pivotal ev the enigma bond with
On weekly hikes through the Peaks, Nayan reveals tal events of 2017: a faltering relationship with
the enigmatic Helen Fletcher; Nayan’s quasi-paternal bond with her 18-year-old son Brandon; and the biterly
Imprint Harvill Secker Publication 25.04.24 Formats HB (£18.99), EB (£9.99)
Metadata
Different perspective This all sounds prety political, but Sahota avoids the label because it reduces novels to their subject mater. The Spoiled Heart’s politicism lies not in its subject but its form: the double gaze that forces readers to squint to see its working-class characters, just as the world is structured to obscure and avoid confronting economic inequalit. Such mirrorwork takes considerable skill. “The actual writing, the ordeal of choice, is
Engli
Engl sh tea
aches us to
experiment and question,
to read between the lines.
We need these skills more than ever
e
approach focused on economic equalit blic-school-educated opponent officer and sees everything thro
identit.. At first victory seems embarra for her, but soon the gloves come off. aho
Sahota laments the shiſt from a politics of solidarit to that of identit, which “can’t deliver meaningful social change because brown people are as class-riven as anyone else”. This language of identit results in class being raced, he says, which, conveniently for des the working class, preventing any cross-
r, but soon the gloves come off om a
, which “can’t d own p
as anyone else”. This languag class being raced, he says, w élites, divides the working t al
er Megha, h tle
sometimes admo “I feel for them ther
om
Sahota’s atitude to his characters is affectionate, sometimes admonishing, as if they are autonomous. “I feel for them so much, probably more than I’ve done for any others I’ve writen, because the novel springs so much from my childhood.” That empathy suffuses his writing, which is influenced by J M Coetzee’s “unafraid, truthful gaze” and the “exquisite pain” evoked by Rohinton Mistry.
The Spoiled Heart reminds us of the gap between optics and realit, as the mudslinging accelerates and lapses are ruthlessly weaponised in a manner that recalls the Westminster bearpit. In an episode based on real events at the American Smith College where fees top $78,000 a year, Brandon unfairly loses his low-wage job for alleged, unsubstantiated racism. The incident shows how litle power workers have when their employer wants to protect its reputation, and that “élite minorities can genuinely think they are oppressed, despite their class privilege”, says Sahota. Although publishing finds it simpler to put him in the “non-white issues” box, class has always been his overriding concern. “Rishi Sunak is not my racial friend, he is my class enemy.”
writing, w truthful Rohin T
an
cultural coalition. Yet although Sahota disagrees with his character Megha, he gives her humanit, and we see behind her embatled façade. s atitud
used on economic equalit. Me
egha Sharma,
Nayan’s public-school-educated opponent, is Unify’s first diversit officer and sees ever A
ough the prism of y seems embarrassingly out of reach
Sahota’s top three
The Year of the Runaways Picador, £9.99, 9781447241652 Shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. “Sahota’s novel takes you deep into the lives of a group of Indian labourers thrown together in Sheffield”, Independent on Sunday 58,900 copies sold
China Room Vintage, £9.99, 9781784706364 “Sahota feeds us big, difficult themes —segregation and freedom, revolution and empire—in a form that is unsweetened, fresh and nourishing”, the Times 10,489 copies sold
Ours are the Streets Picador, £9.99, 9780330515818 “A bravura piece of imaginative intensity that took the form of a journal written by
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