A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar

There is a forlorn unity of purpose in the characters in this disturbingly prophetic novel.

Set in the near future in Kolkata, the book describes widespread damage caused by climate change – floods, crop failures, famine.

Ma, her father Dadu, and toddler daughter Mishti have seven days to wait before leaving for Michigan in the US, where Ma’s husband has been working as a scientist. He bought air tickets and secured ‘climate visas’ from bureaucrats. His family attended the US Consulate to receive passports and visas, although Dadu regretted leaving his beloved city. Ma, who had managed a shelter in the city, had been quietly removing some of its precious food donations to look after her father and child. Was she any better than Boomba, a young man at the shelter who saw her pilfering, then broke into her house at night, stealing her handbag with the passports? He was desperate to help his family, displaced by floods, whose house had burned down through his carelessness. When traced by Ma, Boomba’s knowledge of her secrets gave him a huge advantage in an uneasy truce.

The gulf between rich and poor is portrayed by the wedding feast a billionaire hosted for Kolkata citizens to mark her daughter’s marriage. The starving people were frantic to attend, mainly for food, then rioted to destroy the home, with tragic consequences for Ma’s travel plans. Ma and Boomba share guilt, as well as determination to protect their families, in this poignant cautionary tale about climate change.