praise for the fertile earth

"What a marvelous writer Ruthvika is. Her characters are so vivid and passionate, the stakes are so high and the history so complicated. The Fertile Earth is a compulsively readable novel." —Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy

"The Fertile Earth is the kind of novel that you find yourself wanting a friend to read alongside you, to share in the beauty, tragedy, triumph and heartbreak of the world brought to life within its pages. Ruthvika Rao has crafted an astonishing, intelligent epic set during the early decades of post-Independence India, a story filled with moral complexity, intertwined fates, awakenings and romance. Reading The Fertile Earth it's clear that Rao is not only a sophisticated storyteller but an impressive prose stylist—her sentences sing. This is a novel you will not be able to forget." —Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House, finalist for the National Book Award

"From its unforgettable opening pages, The Fertile Earth held me spellbound. At its heart is a transgressive love story that dares to bloom in a world of caste-based violence, vengeance, and political transformation. Ruthvika Rao is a fearless writer, and her debut is nothing short of dazzling." —Tania James, author of Loot, longlisted for the National Book Award

The Fertile Earth is an achingly beautiful book: its world deeply-layered, drenched with desire and daring, humming with tiny and at times explosive acts of devastation and tenderness. It's a spellbinding epic of land, class, and family in post-independence India, and an investigation of what breaks a consciousness and makes it anew, of what happens when one trespasses towards the forbidden. Vijaya, Krishna, Ranga, and Sree are formidable characters whose choices never fail to upend expectations, hurtling towards a future of earth-shattering emotional reverberations. Ruthvika Rao is a formidable writer, her gorgeous, finely calibrated prose boldly takes on the terrors humans can inflict on one another while remaining attuned to the delicate frequencies of improbable, inevitable love. —Aube Ray Lescure, author of River East, River West, finalist for the Women’s Prize for fiction.

"What a rich, deeply memorable novel. The Fertile Earth beautifully explores loyalty and love, violence and politics and ideology, promises and returns and the arbitrariness of origin—not to mention the inextricable histories of family and nation. This is an inspired, gorgeous book, and Ruthvika Rao’s storytelling has a confident, compassionate intelligence—I’d follow her bright voice anywhere." —Natalie Bakopoulos, author of Scorpionfish

'The Fertile Earth made me think about so many things, from family and love to politics and violence. The scope of this brilliant novel is vast. Absolutely captivating.’ Luan Goldie, author of Nightingale Point

“Lush, bold, haunting and heartbreaking. The story of a forbidden love against the violent backdrop of post-independent India, The Fertile Earth had me gripped. Rao’s gorgeous prose leaps off the page in this impressive and unforgettable debut novel.” Alba Arikha, author of Two Hours

'The Fertile Earth is an unforgettable novel. It's beautifully written, immersive, clear-eyed in its depiction of caste and oppression, yet tender in its portrayal of heartbreak and hope.’ Deepa Anappara, author of Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line