Why Megha Majumdar has 'so much fun' on book tours
A Guardian And A Thief delves into disparities and struggles we are beginning to feel today
A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar is set in the near future in the city of Kolkata, when temperatures are soaring, food is scarce and even basic shelter isn't guaranteed.
The story takes place in a week and follows two families in a near-future, climate-ravaged Kolkata who are faced with issues of morality and survival when an encounter with a thief changes their lives forever.
A Guardian and a Thief was a finalist for the National Book Award and was selected as one of the best books of 2025 by both TIME and The Atlantic. It is the follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller A Burning, a novel that was longlisted for the U.S. National Book Award in 2020.
Her latest book's setting is a personal one: the New York-based Majumdar grew up in Kolkata and said that the city has greatly informed her life and career.
"Kolkata is a fascinating place," she said on Bookends with Mattea Roach, "it's a centre of arts in India so I was surrounded by people who took storytelling very seriously, all the way from films and literature to the everyday storytelling of running into people on the street and having conversations with your neighbours. Storytelling always felt very vital and alive in Kolkata, which I loved."
Storytelling always felt very vital and alive in Kolkata, which I loved.- Megha Majumdar
"It's also a place where you become very aware of class," she said. "There are so many people and I grew up middle class and I saw kids who were poor and who were not going to school and at the same time I had classmates who were really wealthy, so I understood very early in Kolkata that class makes a real difference in what you are able to do."
Majumdar spoke with Roach about the inspiration behind the novel.
Mattea Roach: I know going out on book tour can be a pretty major undertaking. How does it feel to be back at home after spending some time on the road chatting about this novel?
Megha Majumdar: People have been asking me, in a concerned tone, "How is the book tour? Is it exhausting?" And I say "No, I have so much fun." I made time to have some quiet time in nature — and see butterflies and tide pools out in California where I was.
I made time during my book tour to have some quiet nature time.- Megha Majumdar
I got to go to these amazing bookstores and chat with readers. It was very exciting. But I'm also happy to be home, especially because I have two very small children. I am very much needed at home and I am completely in parent mode at home.
The house at the centre of your novel is a beacon of safety for the characters because access to property is such a marker of class differences. This is especially true in this future world where climate refugees are moving to and from the city. What inspired the house as the central location?
I love that you ask that question. You are the first person to ask about the house in all the conversations that I've had about this book. And you are right that the house is so central.
I resisted centering the house in this book for a long time until I understood that this house is a safe place, it's a shelter as the city is collapsing around them. I realized that the house has to be the centre of contention. It is a climate-proofed house, which signals the way in which things like air conditioning will become vital in the future as places like Kolkata get much hotter.
From thinking about the scarcity of food, the storms, the heat, I really started thinking about who are the people going to become? What is going to happen in such a time of scarcity to the inner lives of the people?- Megha Majumdar
But the house also signals access to resources: Who deserves relief and rescue in a time of collapse? Who has access to a safe haven and who does not?
The problems that you're describing in this novel don't feel that far away. Why did you want to focus on issues of climate but kind of project out to this time? You don't say exactly how far in the future it is, but it feels like it could be pretty soon.
One of the main roots of this novel was me reading a report about the future of Kolkata and how climate change is going to affect the city. Kolkata is one of the cities in the world which is most severely affected by climate change.
Imagine that feeling of reading these dire predictions about the place where you grew up, the place that you love. It's a feeling of shock and sorrow. So I knew that I wanted to imagine what this future city would be like.
From thinking about the scarcity of food, the storms, the heat, I really started thinking about who are the people going to become? What is going to happen in such a time of scarcity to the inner lives of the people?
Who will they be as parents, as people who believe that they have strong moral cores, as people who care about their neighbours and fellow city dwellers? Who will they really become?
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. It was produced by Katy Swailes.
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