In this case, we read about young Indians, from both the sub-continenent and British born, both middle class and dirt poor. It could be compared to a much more modern 'A Fine Balance', but far sadder and wretched in both spirit and outcome. There is an excellent piece about this book at http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/19/the-year-of-the-runaways-sunjeev-sahota-review-political-novel So I won't go into a plot summary and commentary on this as it is all said so very well in the Guardian review.
Having lived in India for a year which was essentially 24 hour culture shock and left me in a whirl wind much of the time, I have found that contemporary Indian writing helps make sense of the huge chaos, to the Western eye, that is Indian society. The characters in this novel also live chaotic lives, materially and emotionally. Throughout there is a sense of hopelessness, of never being able to improve one's lot in life, and yet the positivity of youth, I suspect, is what keeps them going. And being in Sheffield, it would seem, is a whole lot better than being an untouchable in Punjab - Tochi, or trying to repay debts to loan sharks - Avtar, or of not having the right connections to break out of a set in stone middle class government clerical career - Randeep. For the British born Narinder, her desperation to flee her father's control and impending arranged marriage take her from London to Sheffield. They are all runaways, fleeing their prescribed destinies, looking for something, anything else.
Although very Indian in its setting, its dialogues, and minutiae, I expect it tells the very same story that poor migrants all over the world tell. Not an easy read, but by the end things have shifted somewhat for all the characters, and they may well be living better lives than those prescribed for them. If anything, reading this should teach us how to be more compassionate to those less fortunate than ourselves in this complicated world we live in.
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