Deviants

Bhattacharya has written a compelling, concise epic, where politics, love and freedom are balanced and blended into a novel that is unflinching about the cruelties of the past, optimistic about what comes next, but wise enough to know that progress comes with costs, too

Bhattacharya has written a compelling, concise epic, where politics, love and freedom are balanced and blended into a novel that is unflinching about the cruelties of the past, optimistic about what comes next, but wise enough to know that progress comes with costs, too

Deviants is an epic novel wrought into just 300 pages, at once heart-wrenching and utterly unputdownable

A compelling study of gay life and the search to belong in an unforgiving society ... As much as it’s about forbidden love, Deviants is a study of resilience. Bhattacharya has created a compelling, astute and compassionate meditation on identity and the search to belong

It’s magnificent: funny, melancholic, sharply true . The force of it crept up on me in a brilliantly subtle way

Deviants is so compulsive and wrenching it made me miss my tube stop more than once. Rarely have I felt so invested in a novel: I carried each strand with me into my life, their joy, grief and hope. The detail and care that goes into these stories makes them burn in you long after the pages are closed. Bhattacharya has written the epic text for the South Asian queer community that the characters in this book long to find

There is an epic confidence to Bhattacharya’s writing

Deviants is a beautifully written and formally inventive multi-generational tale of gay life in one Indian family

A fearless portrait of a changing society, bringing hitherto marginalised lives centre stage with great heart and humour … At times heartrending, but also life-affirming and celebratory

A vibrant, engaging and important novel. Santanu Bhattacharya explores gay love in India across three generations of a family with remarkable elegance and compassion. By turns funny, illuminating and moving, Deviants is a fine achievement

Fluent, fascinating and groundbreaking ... Bhattacharya is a skilful writer, who effortlessly weaves together the different strands of his story, giving us intimate portraits of all three men - their lives, their loves and their families - alongside a vivid evocation of a rapidly changing India, from the 1970s to the present day. A rich, multifaceted story that is both funny and heartbreaking, clear-eyed and hopeful

Santanu Bhattacharya is the author of two novels, One Small Voice and Deviants , and several works of short fiction. One Small Voice was an Observer Best Debut Novel for 2023, and was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award and the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize. Deviants won the Rainbow Award and BLF-Atta Galata Prize 2025, and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize. Santanu is the recipient of the Desmond Elliott Prize Residency, the Mo Siewcharran Prize, the Life Writing Prize, and a London Writers’ Award. He grew up in India, and now lives in London.