Britain's multicultural voices

Future Rushdies lurk in the fourth edition of Granta's collection of young British novelist

Multiculturalism is the leitmotif of the fourth edition of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. The author's list reads like a roll-call of nations. The selected extracts and stories use subjects and reference points that are global. And the characters who breathe life into the stories come from almost every part of the world: Sikh immigrants, Pakistani and Indian soldiers, British drug dealers, Thai lovers, and labourers from Bangladesh share space with families from China, Ghana and Mogadishu, and rabbis and prophets. Everyone is far from home and yet at home in this collection.

According to Gaby Wood, the Telegraph's head of books and one of seven judges for the Granta collection, it was only after they made their selection that she realised how diverse the writers' backgrounds were. "But the names don't necessarily tell you about the content of their work - the most English-sounding ones are writing about Burma or Detroit," she said.* And the ones that sound Asian or African are writing about life in Britain!

The diversity of voices, however, does not interfere with the storytelling. The chosen narratives are taut; the language is defiant and strong; and the plots are delicately crafted. The story about immigrants in Sheffield ("Arrivals" by Sunjeev Sahota), for example, conveys the fear and yearning experienced by men living in dread of immigration authorities. Mr Sahota expertly guides the reader into the mind of the migrant and shows how distance does nothing to erase old prejudices. The author does not take sides; he instead brings out the complexities of the migration issue without resorting to melodrama or pity for his protagonists. Mr Sahota, who lives in Leeds, studied mathematics at Imperial College London and reportedly read his first novel when he was 18 years old. He writes with the confidence of a veteran.

The collection carries the tone of a well-travelled writer - the accent gives nothing away, but carries traces of nearly every language in the world. Thus, words like apneh and chapatti don't seem out of place in the book, even though the authors do not bother to give their English meanings. This is the strength of the book. But if you are looking for a definitive voice of contemporary Britain, you may be disappointed. There are many voices and many narrative styles; they are distinctive and powerful but very different from each other. And the search for a definitive British identity would be like looking for a chimera.

The stories step into spaces that seem to belong to many cultures and many countries - all at the same time, if that is even possible. The story "Anwar gets everything", by Tahmima Anam, who was born in Bangladesh and now lives in London, is set in the construction sites of Dubai. When she describes the conditions in which the young migrants work, their relationship with the contractor and the longing for a love left behind, it is almost as if the borders have melted. Dubai could be a town in India. But her blunt style and vivid descriptions bring the desert alive. She pulls us into the sandstorm; she makes us flinch at the touch of hot metal rails and shudder at the thought of having to lie "in a shed hot as an animal's mouth". The extract whets the appetite and is sure to have many looking for other novels by her.

Another story that forces us to face the not-so-flattering face of human behaviour is "Submersion". It unfurls like a tightly coiled rope. The author, Ross Raisin, reveals bit by bit the relationships that constitute the plot of the story, taking us by surprise with his conversational tone, which mixes aloofness with extreme familiarity. By the end of the story, we feel his grief, but don't grieve with him. We are drawn into the plot, into the lives of the flood-hit townspeople; at no point, however, do we give up being the audience to the drama unfolding on television and behind the scenes.

John Freeman, editor of this edition and former editor of Granta, says, "The writers we were drawn to dazzled with narrative intelligence, but never at the expense of story." The intention was not to look for the next big name, he says, but to find original voices that could hold readers in thrall. But as one reads through the choices that he and his fellow judges made, it is impossible not to believe that many on this list will achieve the same headline status as past Granta authors such as Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes. We will read more by them and hear more of them in the years to come.

*http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9995817/Surprises-on-Grantas-diverse-2013-Best-of-Young-British-Novelists-list.html

GRANTA 123: BEST OF YOUNG
British Novelists 4
Granta Publications 2013
395 pages; Rs 799