Kiran Desai, the author who disappeared for 20 years: I think of loneliness as sustenance, as shame and as political fear'

"She moved before the pandemic, when gentrification with its huge skyscrapers and condominiums forced her out of Dumbo, Brooklyn. Between the kitchen and the upstairs room, in one corner of which lie part of the 5,000 pages of notes she took while writing it, Desai finished The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, the monumental, 19thcenturystyle novel she has spent nearly two decades on."

"I knew it would be a long book, she says of a novel she at one point feared I might never be able to finish. I also wanted to have a large cast of characters from different generations, and my decision to approach loneliness from a global perspective from both Eastern and Western viewpoints thinking of it as sustenance, as shame, and as political fear."

Kiran Desai moved to Jackson Heights, Queens, before the pandemic after gentrification pushed her out of Dumbo, Brooklyn. Between the kitchen and an upstairs room lie part of the 5,000 pages of notes she took while writing. Desai finished The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, a monumental 19th-century-style novel that took nearly two decades. The novel was hailed in the United States as one of the books of 2025. Desai approached loneliness from a global perspective, combining Eastern and Western viewpoints and treating loneliness as sustenance, shame, and political fear. Desai worked thematically, letting ideas precede plot.

Read at english.elpais.com