‘Promises to be an essential read for this moment in history’

Literary Hub, Most Anticipated Reads of 2024

Set in a time of rising Hindu nationalism, Quarterlife is an attempt to examine the forces that shape political belief. The novel came out in India in 2023, where it was a finalist for five literary awards and won the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year and the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman. Quarterlife was published internationally in 2024-25. It has been named a best book or a recommended read of the year by over a dozen publications including The Hindu and The New Yorker. Translations are underway in German and Italian. 

Praise for Quarterlife

'Powerful, demanding, rewarding.'

―Anthony Cummins, Daily Mail, 2025

'A fearless achievement… Most contemporary novels are too narrow to allow for the truly dialogical. Rege, by contrast, redefines the dialogical as a kind of tight counterpoint, the novel asking us to discriminate between semitones rather than wide octaves… Diversity is here the means of inquiry, inextricable from the questions the novel asks of diversity… Rege's seriousness of purpose runs like an electrical wire through the book.'

―James Wood, The New Yorker, 2024

'A scintillating novel… by a distance the best debut of the year. Throughout, the scope of the book's ideas and textured rendering of its characters contribute to an oceanic feeling of simultaneous scale and intimacy. It is akin to the sensation we experience when immersed in the great Russian fiction of the 19th century… And as with the Russian classics, the beating heart of Quarterlife is the quest for meaning.'

 ―Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal, 2024

'Quarterlife is a deeply intelligent social novel, its characters legible to us as both singularly interesting individuals and vectors of cultural and political forces beyond their grasp. It is also more formally inventive than just about any debut novel I have read recently.'

―Merve Emre, Public Books, 2024 

'Quarterlife is a panoramic portrait of life in contemporary India, the literary equivalent of a Diego Rivera mural... An essential work of fiction enriched by the author's complex feelings about her country, it is one of the most ambitious literary works to come out in years.'

 ―John M. Clum, New York Journal of Books, 2024

'A remarkable debut novel that feels as if it had been lived with and thought through for years, its every choice deeply considered and yet also brave…  [Quarterlife] is alive with argumentation, fervent debate and roiling self-doubt, enacting the splendors and miseries of democracy in a deeply antidemocratic moment.'

 ―Nicholas Dames, Public Books (Public Picks of 2024), 2024

'An exploration of the relationship of the self with the nation in the fashion of the big novels of Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh... Rege's biggest achievement is her fidelity to her object of exploration... She resists the fictionalist's urge to simplify.'

―Anuradha Marwah, Biblio: A Review of Books, 2023

'A landmark novel... Rege has a vast descriptive repertoire, is willing to take astonishing risks with structure, and is immaculate in her numerous interiority dives. Her hand is so sure it is often impossible to believe that Quarterlife is a debut.'

  ―Tanuj Solanki, The Indian Express, 2023

‘Quarterlife is one of the best character-driven novels out in India this year: it is wholly about how people think, how their perceptions shape their behaviour, and how those perceptions may change... This, one feels, is a reflection of reality.'

  ―Madhulika Liddle, Open Magazine, 2023

‘You want to admire the way Rege uses words to cut and soothe all at once – to read some of the sentences aloud and take pleasure in how they sound. What's especially exciting is the freshness in Rege's turn of phrase - the rhythm in her sentences feels new, and marks the arrival of a voice we have not heard before in Indian literature in English.'

  ―Swati Daftuar, The Hindu, 2023

'For some time now, the need for a contemporary novel that takes the Indian political landscape head-on has been acutely felt. Quarterlife arrives on the scene with elegance and aplomb... Steering the narrative away from becoming a crusade to find reason in political pockets, Rege makes the story one that bears witness to an extraordinary moment in history. [Quarterlife] should be read as a testament to the clarity truth can gain from craft.'  

―Shubhangi Tiwari, Scroll India, 2023

'Quarterlife is that rare novel that dares to speak differently… Its boldness is backed by Rege’s unmistakable commitment to storytelling and her sheer talent for it. A quiet confidence permeates each page.'

  ―Madhavi Mahadevan, Moneycontrol, 2023

'If the novel is, arguably, one of the more democratic forms, Quarterlife demonstrates how this is enabled not only by subject matter but also by technique... This is an ambitious and deeply rewarding novel.' 

―Stuti Khanna, The India Forum, 2023

‘A brave, astute book... Rege shows a deep and precise understanding of the fragile complexity of India and its intricate web of identities… I was astonished by the detail, the veracity, and the openness with which she tackles her irreconcilable subject matter.’

―Saudamini Jain, Hindustan Times, 2023

"With such brutality to contend with, it is almost shocking to find such delicacy of attention, such depth of listening, and such ability to hold us, simply and directly, with wisdom and with grief."

 ―Sampurna Chattarji National Herald (Best Books of the Year), 2023

'What a blazingly original voice, what a fiercely intelligent engagement with world politics. Devika Rege is at the forefront of a new generation of authors who are challenging notions of what transnational literature can do and remaking global literary culture in the process.'

  ―Vauhini Vara, author of The Immortal King Rao

'What begins as a novel of ideas becomes the secret history of a nation. A superb read, both moving and inspiring.'

  ―Jeet Thayil, author of Narcopolis

'Finally, a novel about our roiling times by a writer of clear-eyed empathy, the ability to listen closely and to step out of cosmopolitan cocoons. I am reminded of the genius of Kiran Nagarkar. Utterly masterful and moving.'

  ―Gauri Gill, author of Acts of Appearance

'Acutely observed... Quarterlife should be read by anyone seeking to understand the political and social tensions at work in 21st-century India.' 

—Hari Kunzru, author of Blue Ruin

'Dazzling, sophisticated, and wholly achieved in its ambition, Quarterlife emerges out of the tradition of the philosophical novel. Devika Rege is a transformative novelist.'

  ―Maureen McClane, author of More Anon