"Bhattacharya . . . serves up an illuminating tale about a woman fighting for her agency in India . . . Through Charu's experiences, Bhattacharya provides a wide-angle view of India's inequality and patriarchal gender roles, all while depicting in intimate detail how his protagonist struggles to live on her own terms." --Publishers Weekly

"[A] sprawling tale, told with flair and heart." --California Review of Books

"The novel's witty, slightly Dickensian tone offers both humor and poignancy. This bildungsroman concerning one woman's quest to define her identity also brings India into sharp focus." --Kirkus Reviews

"Tracing Charu's story against tidal forces of history is brilliant, and her perception of feminism's impact is moving." --Booklist

"Rahul Bhattacharya is an extraordinary writer, and Railsong is a majestic yet profoundly tender novel. Vigorously alive to the currents of national change as well as to the tragedy, daring, humor, and love experienced in one woman's days and years, Railsong bids us to observe the worth and intricacy of one person's journey." --Megha Majumdar, bestselling author of National Book Award Finalist A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF

"Magnificent. Railsong treads so lightly, and yet has such depth to it. I would follow Miss Chitol to the ends of the earth for the continued joy of her company." --Kamila Shamsie, internationally bestselling and Women's Prize for Fiction-winning author of HOME FIRE

"Does anyone write better prose than Rahul Bhattacharya? Every word in this gorgeous, darting novel is a surprise. Bhattacharya has created an epic out of a single life." --Karan Mahajan, author of National Book Award Finalist THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBS

"Few works capture, with such effectiveness, the profound political and social transformations of the last decades of the twentieth century-tracing their impact from the grassroots to the highest levels of society. Negotiating the subtle, intricate bond between the language of lived experience and the language of narration, Rahul Bhattacharya meets that challenge with remarkable assurance, Railsong is a testament to the depth and brilliance of his craft. Charu's solitude permeates the novel, even when she is surrounded by people, even when she performs every duty with care. Rarely has writing so comprehensively, and precisely captured this haunting feeling-the silent burden of the missing-that stands as the novel's greatest achievement and its most profound triumph." --Vivek Shanbhag, author of GHACHAR GHOCHAR

"I will read Rahul Bhattacharya's shopping list if he doesn't write anything else, but fortunately, 2025 wasn't one of those years. In Railsong, his heroine Charu takes a train-not once but many times. A history and a geography of the country seeps out of the crazily readable novel directly into the part of the brain where memorable novels life. Indeed, this is the book we could well remember this year for." --India Today

"Rahul Bhattacharya's Railsong is a novel of rare attentiveness - to the turns of a life, to the slow sediment of time. It creates an extraordinary archive from a single life, thick with everydayness, layered with complexity and profundity. Even when I wasn't reading, I found myself thinking about the world of Railsong, for in Ms. Chitol, Bhattacharya gives us a heroine to hold in one's heart." --Aanchal Malhotra, author of THE BOOK OF EVERLASTING THINGS