CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Megha Majumdar’s excellent debut novel begins with a pile-on, the kind of digital public shaming Jon Ronson has written about. A young Muslim woman named Jivan reads on her phone about a terrorist attack at a railway station near the slum in Kolkata where she lives.

Detailed explanation-2: -A “gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary” (USA Today) about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise-to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies-and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India.

Detailed explanation-3: -The impetus to write A Burning came several years ago, as she watched the rise of right-wing nationalism in India.

Detailed explanation-4: -Set in Kolkata, India, the novel tells the story of its central character Jivan, a woman who witnesses a terrorist attack on an Indian train while it is stopped in a station.

Detailed explanation-5: -A Burning is published by Scribner (RRP £14.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.