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Railsong
A breathtaking novel about
a woman forging a life for herself on the railways, Railsong is the story of an individual coming of age amid the social and political upheavals of twentieth-century India.
In a newly independent India charged with national vigor, Charu, the motherless daughter of a railway worker, pines for freedom from the shackles of her impoverishment and meagre prospects. As diesel engines replace steam and the calamitous churn of drought, famine and a great strike engulfs her town, Charu dares to imagine a different future for herself. She boards a train and flees westwards, leaving behind the oppressive domesticity of her childhood for the alluring modernity, and apparent opportunities, of Bombay.
Unfazed by the everyday discriminations around her, she becomes an unlikely hero: a railway woman and census enumerator who keeps her heart open—sometimes guilelessly—to her nation’s vast possibility. Sweeping, elegiac and at times wonderfully comic, Railsong is a powerful portrait of grit, optimism and the force of character that enables one remarkable woman to live on her own terms in a country full of contradictions.
In a newly independent India charged with national vigor, Charu, the motherless daughter of a railway worker, pines for freedom from the shackles of her impoverishment and meagre prospects. As diesel engines replace steam and the calamitous churn of drought, famine and a great strike engulfs her town, Charu dares to imagine a different future for herself. She boards a train and flees westwards, leaving behind the oppressive domesticity of her childhood for the alluring modernity, and apparent opportunities, of Bombay.
Unfazed by the everyday discriminations around her, she becomes an unlikely hero: a railway woman and census enumerator who keeps her heart open—sometimes guilelessly—to her nation’s vast possibility. Sweeping, elegiac and at times wonderfully comic, Railsong is a powerful portrait of grit, optimism and the force of character that enables one remarkable woman to live on her own terms in a country full of contradictions.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published February 17, 2026
86 people are currently reading
4279 people want to read
About the author
Rahul Bhattacharya
17 books47 followersRahul Bhattacharya is a writer, journalist and editor. His first novel, The Sly Company of People Who Care, won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. Pundits from Pakistan, his first book, was a Wisden Cricketer top ten cricket book of all time. He was born in Bombay and lives in Delhi with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
November 27, 2025
I’ll never forget Charu Chitol.
December 8, 2025
I remember loving The Sly Company Of People Who Care, and I remember feeling that there was something special about that young writer. It took Bhattacharya thirteen years to write another book...and I was lucky enough this time to get an autographed copy, courtesy a friend.
This one is a very different novel. But it is special too, in its own way. It is not everyday that a man writes convincingly from a woman's point of view. But Charulata Chitol, as the heart of this book, is lovely. She grows up in a fictional railway town, daughter of a Bihari mother and a Bengali father, who in the idealism of the India of the fifties and sixties, decides to give up his high caste surname for the indeterminate one of Chitol. That idealism stays with Charu through her life, as she runs away to Bombay looking for freedom and independence, as she encounters the bureaucracy of a railway job, as she tries to work through the complications of an inter-state marriage. Through her life we see the life of a nation, as Bhattacharya weaves in, ever so subtly, the events that shaped India in the latter half of the twentieth century. And also through her life, we see the change in women - as they begin to work outside their homes, negotiating an autonomy society is loathe to grant them. But the magical core of the book is the Indian Railways - its ordinary employees, the clerks and the sweepers and the station masters and the ticket inspectors. Charu, as she travels the trains as a welfare officer, meets them all and sees in them the complex richness that is India. Bhattacharya writes a love song to this behemoth - as it chugs along, inspite of all its problems, carrying a billion Indians across the land, irrespective of their caste or religion or language.
I don't know if I loved this as much as I loved The Sly Company, but Bhattacharya tells a good tale, slow-moving in parts, but heart-warming and rewarding as a whole.
A recommend.
This one is a very different novel. But it is special too, in its own way. It is not everyday that a man writes convincingly from a woman's point of view. But Charulata Chitol, as the heart of this book, is lovely. She grows up in a fictional railway town, daughter of a Bihari mother and a Bengali father, who in the idealism of the India of the fifties and sixties, decides to give up his high caste surname for the indeterminate one of Chitol. That idealism stays with Charu through her life, as she runs away to Bombay looking for freedom and independence, as she encounters the bureaucracy of a railway job, as she tries to work through the complications of an inter-state marriage. Through her life we see the life of a nation, as Bhattacharya weaves in, ever so subtly, the events that shaped India in the latter half of the twentieth century. And also through her life, we see the change in women - as they begin to work outside their homes, negotiating an autonomy society is loathe to grant them. But the magical core of the book is the Indian Railways - its ordinary employees, the clerks and the sweepers and the station masters and the ticket inspectors. Charu, as she travels the trains as a welfare officer, meets them all and sees in them the complex richness that is India. Bhattacharya writes a love song to this behemoth - as it chugs along, inspite of all its problems, carrying a billion Indians across the land, irrespective of their caste or religion or language.
I don't know if I loved this as much as I loved The Sly Company, but Bhattacharya tells a good tale, slow-moving in parts, but heart-warming and rewarding as a whole.
A recommend.
April 3, 2026
Outstanding book. Was hooked throughout. Beautiful prose, felt like I was in Bhombalphur in the 50s and Mumbai in the 80s. Also, an empathetic and beautiful perspective on the Indian railways. Ms Chitol, what a character
November 15, 2025
As slow-moving as the titular trains winding through the book, with little of the promised song. Although Charu was an interesting and complex character, her mundane adventures and the ponderous writing style that relayed them failed to engage.
March 2, 2026
Railsong opens in the fictional town of Bhombalpur in the state of Bihar, India at the time of the 1961 census when Charulata (Charu) Chitol, the child of a mixed caste marriage, is three years old. Her mother dies a few years later and Charu and her two brothers are raised by their railway worker/political activist father.
As a 16 year-old searching for freedom and independence, Charu flees on a cross-country train to Bombay where she lives with maternal relatives for a time while attending college before finding work in a shoe store and moving to a women's hostel. Eventually she secures a position with the Indian Railways where she is known as Miss Chitol and builds a career beginning as a junior clerk and advancing through the system to become a welfare inspector investigating worker's claims and fraud.
Spanning three decades (1961-92), Railsong is a heartfelt coming of age story about a complex young woman in a changing India in the latter half of the 20th century. Charu's struggle for personal independence takes place against a backdrop of social and political upheaval in modern day India highlighting the inequality that exists both between castes and within the patriarchal society. Through Charu we observe the changing role of women in India's workforce and the importance of Indian Railways as an employer. I enjoyed learning more about the history and geography of the country and Charu is a memorable character. Railsong is an interesting and enjoyable story although I did find it to be slow moving and the prose a bit awkward at times.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for providing a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
As a 16 year-old searching for freedom and independence, Charu flees on a cross-country train to Bombay where she lives with maternal relatives for a time while attending college before finding work in a shoe store and moving to a women's hostel. Eventually she secures a position with the Indian Railways where she is known as Miss Chitol and builds a career beginning as a junior clerk and advancing through the system to become a welfare inspector investigating worker's claims and fraud.
Spanning three decades (1961-92), Railsong is a heartfelt coming of age story about a complex young woman in a changing India in the latter half of the 20th century. Charu's struggle for personal independence takes place against a backdrop of social and political upheaval in modern day India highlighting the inequality that exists both between castes and within the patriarchal society. Through Charu we observe the changing role of women in India's workforce and the importance of Indian Railways as an employer. I enjoyed learning more about the history and geography of the country and Charu is a memorable character. Railsong is an interesting and enjoyable story although I did find it to be slow moving and the prose a bit awkward at times.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for providing a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Read
November 16, 2025DNF. This just isn't working for me. I'm bored.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Sublime
January 13, 2026
Read it twice, a quick read through the second time. But Charulata Chitol is a heroine in the truest sense of the word.
Although it’s a 4.5 for me because as beautiful as the story is, the awkward clunkyness of the prose in some parts really starts getting to you.
Although it’s a 4.5 for me because as beautiful as the story is, the awkward clunkyness of the prose in some parts really starts getting to you.
April 4, 2026
Railsong gave me a much needed template to think about patriotic feelings.
March 17, 2026
tender, beautiful, highly self aware.
you will remember the protagonist as intimately as one knows one own self and their negotiations with the world.
you will remember the protagonist as intimately as one knows one own self and their negotiations with the world.
Review of advance copy
Born into a relatively young India, a very young Ms. Chitol arrives at the railway workshop town of Bhombalpur. Here she faces a tragedy early in her young life and that sets into motion events that cast their shadows throughout her life.
But time and again our Ms. Chitol refuses to be defined by her circumstances. She never loses her convictions and each time she forges her own path.
She is not exactly an always morally upright character and has ample shades of grey. But you always find yourself rooting for her. And that's how you realize this is a character whom the author loves, maybe even is partial to her. He devotes equal parts to the work of a woman as he does to her personal life. How work shapes her life.
A superb example of a character driven novel. The Indian Railways, life and work in the Railways and train journeys become an authentic backdrop against which the character of Ms. Chitol comes alive for the reader.
This book has all the makings of a modern Indian classic along the lines of The God of Small Things and A Fine Balance.
But time and again our Ms. Chitol refuses to be defined by her circumstances. She never loses her convictions and each time she forges her own path.
She is not exactly an always morally upright character and has ample shades of grey. But you always find yourself rooting for her. And that's how you realize this is a character whom the author loves, maybe even is partial to her. He devotes equal parts to the work of a woman as he does to her personal life. How work shapes her life.
A superb example of a character driven novel. The Indian Railways, life and work in the Railways and train journeys become an authentic backdrop against which the character of Ms. Chitol comes alive for the reader.
This book has all the makings of a modern Indian classic along the lines of The God of Small Things and A Fine Balance.
February 21, 2026
This book came highly recommended and didn't disappoint.
Loved the heroine, Charulata Chitol. What a character. We follow her right from when she's a child in 1961, who moves with her parents to a railway township in Bhombalpur (an imaginary town in Bihar) to when she's in her mid-30s in Bombay. She's so memorably written; she runs away from home at 16 to make her own life in Bombay. She has a soft landing to the extent that she has her mother's brother to live with. She dabbles with getting an education, while hiding the fact that she works in a shoe shop. She meets men, gets her heart broken but all the while her primary purpose is independence. She loathes the idea that her life's purpose (as for most women in that era) is to get married and take care of her husband and kids. She moves from one PG accommodation to another.
Her life and the book really kick into gear after her father passes away and she gets a "compassionate posting" (after much dogged chasing) in the Railways. I loved the fact that she refuses the easy way out of accepting a job in Bhombalpur and insists on working in Bombay. Eventually, she marries for love, and true to character leaves when she thinks she can't live in her husband's house on her terms anymore and continues to focus on her career in the Railways. At this point, she's a welfare inspector and each case/story is dealt with so beautifully. The author goes deep into the bureaucracy behind the running of the Railways and you feel the incompetence, the patience, the frustration behind every interaction, every delay, every file.
Aside from the midsection where long passages on Railway rules somehow become the focus, and some uneven pacing (the author describes indepth her efforts to get a job in the Railways, but somehow she's married in a line!), the book is lovely. The ending moved me to tears: "The straps of her backpack impressed into her shoulders a great many written people, a disorderly bunch which only had in common that their lives had crossed hers, flickering upon each other the miracle of their journeys, like travellers on a train to who knows where, but somewhere, certainly somewhere; and pressing on her worn heel, into the song of the rail climbed Charulata Chitol, who had wanted to count people."
Loved the heroine, Charulata Chitol. What a character. We follow her right from when she's a child in 1961, who moves with her parents to a railway township in Bhombalpur (an imaginary town in Bihar) to when she's in her mid-30s in Bombay. She's so memorably written; she runs away from home at 16 to make her own life in Bombay. She has a soft landing to the extent that she has her mother's brother to live with. She dabbles with getting an education, while hiding the fact that she works in a shoe shop. She meets men, gets her heart broken but all the while her primary purpose is independence. She loathes the idea that her life's purpose (as for most women in that era) is to get married and take care of her husband and kids. She moves from one PG accommodation to another.
Her life and the book really kick into gear after her father passes away and she gets a "compassionate posting" (after much dogged chasing) in the Railways. I loved the fact that she refuses the easy way out of accepting a job in Bhombalpur and insists on working in Bombay. Eventually, she marries for love, and true to character leaves when she thinks she can't live in her husband's house on her terms anymore and continues to focus on her career in the Railways. At this point, she's a welfare inspector and each case/story is dealt with so beautifully. The author goes deep into the bureaucracy behind the running of the Railways and you feel the incompetence, the patience, the frustration behind every interaction, every delay, every file.
Aside from the midsection where long passages on Railway rules somehow become the focus, and some uneven pacing (the author describes indepth her efforts to get a job in the Railways, but somehow she's married in a line!), the book is lovely. The ending moved me to tears: "The straps of her backpack impressed into her shoulders a great many written people, a disorderly bunch which only had in common that their lives had crossed hers, flickering upon each other the miracle of their journeys, like travellers on a train to who knows where, but somewhere, certainly somewhere; and pressing on her worn heel, into the song of the rail climbed Charulata Chitol, who had wanted to count people."
April 25, 2026
I don’t feel like writing a review of Railsong. It is simply not that kind of a book. It isn’t a book.
I have been living with Charulata, Charu, Ms Chitol, as she has grown up through the railway employees’ strike, the emergency, Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Babri Masjid, and a few censuses in between. I have been traveling with her on trains, from Bhombalpur to Bombay, from Bombay to Hyderabad to Delhi, in the unreserved class, the third sleeper, the third AC.
Charu is part of my daily routine now, a woman independent in thought, action, reaction to reactions. She cares about her money, living well, doing her job perfectly, questioning questionable practices, standing her ground, being decisive. And on and on and on.
Railsong makes me halt often through the narration, wondering how a man has written a woman so well, better than how many a woman has written a woman.
A book club friend says, “I want to be written like how Rahul has written Charu”. I am tempted to say “I want to be understood like how Rahul understands Charu”.
Does Rahul’s Railsong remind me of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy, as some seem to allude to? Only in how the nation’s politics offer a vivid backdrop to an unfolding personal story.
But, where Seth’s words are lyrical, poetic, dreamy, his heroine Lata an almost one-dimensional character, her role revolving around having to choose her ideal marital match, Rahul’s Charulata isn’t tethered, motherless and wantonly fatherless as she is, choosing to write her future, wanting not to be “of someone” but “Ms Chitol, XYZ something”.
Railsong is great on audible, the narration is perfect. But it’s a labour of love I want in my bookshelf, these are words I want to read and read again.
Railsong is no ordinary book. It is an epic in its own right. Charu is no simple protagonist. She’s an emotion in her own right.
In case it isn’t already clear, recommend. Yes, loud and clear. Recommend.
Be warned. It’s a long long book though, meandering here and there. Some journeys are long and meandering after all. And are worth it for exactly that.
P. S. Charu almost reminds me of Balachander heroines from the 1970s-80s (Balachander was a famous Thamizh director who directed a 100+ movies, many of them radical and way ahead of their time).
I have been living with Charulata, Charu, Ms Chitol, as she has grown up through the railway employees’ strike, the emergency, Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Babri Masjid, and a few censuses in between. I have been traveling with her on trains, from Bhombalpur to Bombay, from Bombay to Hyderabad to Delhi, in the unreserved class, the third sleeper, the third AC.
Charu is part of my daily routine now, a woman independent in thought, action, reaction to reactions. She cares about her money, living well, doing her job perfectly, questioning questionable practices, standing her ground, being decisive. And on and on and on.
Railsong makes me halt often through the narration, wondering how a man has written a woman so well, better than how many a woman has written a woman.
A book club friend says, “I want to be written like how Rahul has written Charu”. I am tempted to say “I want to be understood like how Rahul understands Charu”.
Does Rahul’s Railsong remind me of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy, as some seem to allude to? Only in how the nation’s politics offer a vivid backdrop to an unfolding personal story.
But, where Seth’s words are lyrical, poetic, dreamy, his heroine Lata an almost one-dimensional character, her role revolving around having to choose her ideal marital match, Rahul’s Charulata isn’t tethered, motherless and wantonly fatherless as she is, choosing to write her future, wanting not to be “of someone” but “Ms Chitol, XYZ something”.
Railsong is great on audible, the narration is perfect. But it’s a labour of love I want in my bookshelf, these are words I want to read and read again.
Railsong is no ordinary book. It is an epic in its own right. Charu is no simple protagonist. She’s an emotion in her own right.
In case it isn’t already clear, recommend. Yes, loud and clear. Recommend.
Be warned. It’s a long long book though, meandering here and there. Some journeys are long and meandering after all. And are worth it for exactly that.
P. S. Charu almost reminds me of Balachander heroines from the 1970s-80s (Balachander was a famous Thamizh director who directed a 100+ movies, many of them radical and way ahead of their time).
March 2, 2026
A biiiig thank you to @bloomsburyindia for this copy ❤️
..............................
Ms Chitol has my heart. Really. And I'm in love with Rahul Bhattacharya's prose - so poetic, so lyrical! What Bhattacharya has done is weave a rich tapestry of personal longings, grief and joys, political upheavals, and quiet undercurrents of revolutionary changes that take place within an individual. What remains at the heart of his narration essentially, is the Indian railway; literally binding the various aspects of this beautiful tale together.
The story begins in a tiny fictional railway township of Bhombalpur. Little Charu/Ms Chitol, is a motherless child surviving amid poverty, a strict grandmother, and a kind father. Her life turns 180 degrees when she flees to Mumbai escaping the rut and the shackles of Bhombalpur.
Spanning from the 1960s to the 90s, the story has rich expression of every emotion, all very heartfelt. At the same time it captures the India of the 20th century, all with its political changes, religious clashes, and an evolving society that's slowly but surely leaving behind simpler times.
Throughout the book you find yourself rooting for Ms Chitol. No, she's no simple saint. But she wins your heart with her daily struggles and undying positive spirit. Her self healing, sincerity and discipline pulls her out of her downtrodden environment to something much calmer and uplifting.
The novel carefully touches on issues of caste and religion, class, patriarchy, fragile male egos, all from the 1980s perspective that seems long gone albeit much-relevant even today.
As Ms Chitol finds her footing in Mumbai, finds love, builds a career, finds her true self, you find yourself walking with her, never wanting to stop.
This novel is a must-read for literary fiction lovers; without a doubt. It is magnificent yet grounded, extremely simple yet immensely complex. I couldn't get enough of it.
..............................
Ms Chitol has my heart. Really. And I'm in love with Rahul Bhattacharya's prose - so poetic, so lyrical! What Bhattacharya has done is weave a rich tapestry of personal longings, grief and joys, political upheavals, and quiet undercurrents of revolutionary changes that take place within an individual. What remains at the heart of his narration essentially, is the Indian railway; literally binding the various aspects of this beautiful tale together.
The story begins in a tiny fictional railway township of Bhombalpur. Little Charu/Ms Chitol, is a motherless child surviving amid poverty, a strict grandmother, and a kind father. Her life turns 180 degrees when she flees to Mumbai escaping the rut and the shackles of Bhombalpur.
Spanning from the 1960s to the 90s, the story has rich expression of every emotion, all very heartfelt. At the same time it captures the India of the 20th century, all with its political changes, religious clashes, and an evolving society that's slowly but surely leaving behind simpler times.
Throughout the book you find yourself rooting for Ms Chitol. No, she's no simple saint. But she wins your heart with her daily struggles and undying positive spirit. Her self healing, sincerity and discipline pulls her out of her downtrodden environment to something much calmer and uplifting.
The novel carefully touches on issues of caste and religion, class, patriarchy, fragile male egos, all from the 1980s perspective that seems long gone albeit much-relevant even today.
As Ms Chitol finds her footing in Mumbai, finds love, builds a career, finds her true self, you find yourself walking with her, never wanting to stop.
This novel is a must-read for literary fiction lovers; without a doubt. It is magnificent yet grounded, extremely simple yet immensely complex. I couldn't get enough of it.
March 24, 2026
Rahul Bhattachary's Railsong is a wonderful story about Miss Chitol and her pursuit of 'independence' as she defines it - independence from household chores caring for her 2 brothers and grief stricken father after her mom passes away; from household chores at her uncle's house in Bombay who shelters her after she runs away from home in a railways workshop town in West Bengal; independence from the strictures of living with her in-laws in a small flat; finally, from a husband who is torn between Smt. Chitol, an independent working woman, and a tradition bound mother. Most of all Miss Chitol is attracted to the Indian Railways just as her father was in all its grime, bustle, and rhythms. There are rhythms that run parallel like rail tracks into the future - the decennial census, modernization in the railways from steam to diesel, and progress in post-independent India. The author does not dilly dally on events tragic or otherwise. He is almost insouciant in his narration. There is a sense of constant motion in the lives of the characters from the various deaths-in-the-family, the famine, the emergency of dictator Mrs. Indira G., railway strikes, her father's union activities, emergency era union busting, Miss Chitol’s various boyfriends, travel for work to far-off remote locations as a Railways Welfare officer, Charu evolving into ‘Miss Chitol’, and finally to ‘Smt. Chitol’. From hating Bhombalpur where she grew up, Smt. Chitol comes full circle back to loving it once she gains freedom from her marriage and goes back to visit an uncared for empty house and old family friends who have passed away. She comes full circle from counting people as she stood in the door of a moving train as a child with her father, to working for the census, counting people and their lives. Written in mostly the third person, this is a lovely book with well developed characters and an engaging storyline.
Lovely book!
Lovely book!
Review of advance copy
I’ve journeyed into the new year with Rahul Bhattacharya’s Railsong… with Charulata Chitol’s adventures and astonishing range of musings for company.
I have followed her from a sleepy railway township in eastern India where she grew up with her brothers. And I’m sitting with her in a concert hall in faraway, deliriously liberating Bombay where she is about to meet the man she may possibly spend her life with.
At that point, she is waiting… for life to get going. A wait that is filled with new adventures and old grievances, could-be boyfriends and nosy colleagues… a wait in which she feels she is on the threshold of something… but what?
And then she realises that the wait is the real deal.
“Without the wait, everything is hollow. Without meaning. Why must I resist the waiting? The journeys we navigate everyday failing to recognise the exquisite. … the sadness, the richness, the pleasure of the waiting and the wandering… we forfeit all for the mundane”
And so she waits: for trains, for buses and bullock carts, for the decisions that must surmount red tape and optics, for her family to come to terms with her choices.
I liked the way the events in independent India’s history and the span of its geography are woven into Charu’s story. I loved the way her story shifts gears once she arrives at Bombay, her absorbing of the sights, sounds, smells and tics. And her intense desire to “belong” to this chaotically endearing city.
I’m gobsmacked at the amount of research it must have taken to chronicle a railway employee’s life and fieldwork in such rich detail.
At the close of the last chapter (which hangs at a critical date), Charu is “vividly sentimental and sensationally alive.”
As I close the book, I can say much the same for myself.
I have followed her from a sleepy railway township in eastern India where she grew up with her brothers. And I’m sitting with her in a concert hall in faraway, deliriously liberating Bombay where she is about to meet the man she may possibly spend her life with.
At that point, she is waiting… for life to get going. A wait that is filled with new adventures and old grievances, could-be boyfriends and nosy colleagues… a wait in which she feels she is on the threshold of something… but what?
And then she realises that the wait is the real deal.
“Without the wait, everything is hollow. Without meaning. Why must I resist the waiting? The journeys we navigate everyday failing to recognise the exquisite. … the sadness, the richness, the pleasure of the waiting and the wandering… we forfeit all for the mundane”
And so she waits: for trains, for buses and bullock carts, for the decisions that must surmount red tape and optics, for her family to come to terms with her choices.
I liked the way the events in independent India’s history and the span of its geography are woven into Charu’s story. I loved the way her story shifts gears once she arrives at Bombay, her absorbing of the sights, sounds, smells and tics. And her intense desire to “belong” to this chaotically endearing city.
I’m gobsmacked at the amount of research it must have taken to chronicle a railway employee’s life and fieldwork in such rich detail.
At the close of the last chapter (which hangs at a critical date), Charu is “vividly sentimental and sensationally alive.”
As I close the book, I can say much the same for myself.
Review of advance copy
it's hard to know where to begin—but this may be the best Indian novel in English I have ever read. certainly I am finding it hard to think of something that surpasses it. what Rahul Bhattacharya has managed in this book is to write his protagonist with such sensitivity and care that she never becomes two-dimensional or a caricature; but most importantly, she carries that sensibility with her into the world she lives in, narrating the people she encounters and their worldviews in a manner that is uncompromising without being harsh. the novel deals with India across decades of momentous change, through the Emergency and the railway strikes all the way to the demolition of Babri Masjid and the entrenchment of anti-Muslim bigotry in everyday life. other novels in recent years have attempted to deal with Hindu majoritarianism and caste in India, but have often betrayed the author's own urbane guilt and anxieties, or have shown the writer's derision for the people they criticise. that is never the case with this novel, which is critical and truthful without ever collapsing people into caricatures or stereotypes. it is also beautifully written, preserving much of the colloquialisms of Indian English without aiming to be translatable to a Western audience (in the Indian hardback edition, anyway). and it draws out the mundane, sometimes ugly details of everyday life (from period cramps to rat-bitten curtains) but still grants them beauty and dignity. it took me several weeks to read, much longer than usual, but I can't recommend this book enough.
February 22, 2026
Silver Railway tracks or the stitches of Kantha embroidery ? Or both ? My first thoughts , when I see the Blue-bare hard-cover, shorn of its decorative paper-one.
A woven Tapestry of a life, written with such a knowing understanding of a female mind - a pleasant surprise- with a sensitivity that I have read last in Tagore's. With descriptive prose never indulging in itself too much , never leaning to the tedious ; the right balance.
As a person who never knew the intricracies of the clerk /welfare verification / Census work - a peek into this world through the eyes of girl, tenaciously climbing her way up to the VT (now CST) main "beautiful building" office at Bombay (now Mumbai) is a ride that I shall indulge in - not once, but couple of times.
Do read and understand why she was never referred to by her first name in the book , unlike her brothers, but by her surname "Chitol" - an aspirational name given by a parent taken away too soon, whose absence lingered through letters address to the other parent discovered later , whose ideals forged her identity.
Pick this one up - a shelf keeper :)
A woven Tapestry of a life, written with such a knowing understanding of a female mind - a pleasant surprise- with a sensitivity that I have read last in Tagore's. With descriptive prose never indulging in itself too much , never leaning to the tedious ; the right balance.
As a person who never knew the intricracies of the clerk /welfare verification / Census work - a peek into this world through the eyes of girl, tenaciously climbing her way up to the VT (now CST) main "beautiful building" office at Bombay (now Mumbai) is a ride that I shall indulge in - not once, but couple of times.
Do read and understand why she was never referred to by her first name in the book , unlike her brothers, but by her surname "Chitol" - an aspirational name given by a parent taken away too soon, whose absence lingered through letters address to the other parent discovered later , whose ideals forged her identity.
Pick this one up - a shelf keeper :)
February 24, 2026
I hope Charu Chitol's tenacity continues to inspire me.
I love long sprawling sagas and this one, as others have noted, is definitely reminiscent of A Suitable Boy. As Charu grows into adulthood, India goes through its transitions - there is the emergency, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, railway union strikes, caste tensions, religious riots, demands for the Ram temple - that create the backdrop of the social tensions of the time. I dipped into the story completely, transported back into the Bombay of the 80s. It is a story that needs to be told in current times. Our fault lines as a country have always been the same, yet there is so much that connects us - the railways, the census that enumerates the millions to billions of us, yet there is hope, there is the idealism of those who came before us, each small life adding up to what is the whole.
If I had to fault anything, it would be the middle section that could have been cut short and at times felt a little tedious.
I love long sprawling sagas and this one, as others have noted, is definitely reminiscent of A Suitable Boy. As Charu grows into adulthood, India goes through its transitions - there is the emergency, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, railway union strikes, caste tensions, religious riots, demands for the Ram temple - that create the backdrop of the social tensions of the time. I dipped into the story completely, transported back into the Bombay of the 80s. It is a story that needs to be told in current times. Our fault lines as a country have always been the same, yet there is so much that connects us - the railways, the census that enumerates the millions to billions of us, yet there is hope, there is the idealism of those who came before us, each small life adding up to what is the whole.
If I had to fault anything, it would be the middle section that could have been cut short and at times felt a little tedious.
Review of advance copy
Rahul Bhattacharya's Railsong is an ambitious and dizzying novel that succeeds in what it sets out to tell - the story of Charulata, a.k.a., Charu, Chitol.
Born to a humanist (and equally important, Indian railway employee) father, who trades in his high-caste last name for an invented and uncategorisable Chitol, Charu's story begins in Colonial India and ends after the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
As the railways criss-cross and connect India, Charu too travels, physically and metaphorcally, in a time when few women would dream of leading a life that was not laid out for them by their fathers or husbands. She marries outside her community, takes up unconventional jobs, and lives life on her terms.
All the praise being heaped on this book isn't enough. It's an excellent and moving read.
Born to a humanist (and equally important, Indian railway employee) father, who trades in his high-caste last name for an invented and uncategorisable Chitol, Charu's story begins in Colonial India and ends after the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
As the railways criss-cross and connect India, Charu too travels, physically and metaphorcally, in a time when few women would dream of leading a life that was not laid out for them by their fathers or husbands. She marries outside her community, takes up unconventional jobs, and lives life on her terms.
All the praise being heaped on this book isn't enough. It's an excellent and moving read.
March 8, 2026
Very engrossing and realistic. The early parts dragged a bit, but as I went on it became harder and harder to put down, and quite appositely I read the second half of the book on a train.
The book beautifully depicts an India that is obviously of the past (and perhaps a somewhat rose-tinted one) yet entirely familiar today in its society and families. The story of Charu's life is almost biographical. I most enjoyed the 'happy ending' of her rejection of joint-family life and continued pursuit in an 'unsuitable career', which, along with her parents' breaking of caste and language barriers, would sadly be as remarkable today as they were decades ago. The politics in the later parts of the book are also unfortunately all too familiar.
The railways provide a beautiful background connecting the story together, but characters and emotions are always in the primary focus.
The book beautifully depicts an India that is obviously of the past (and perhaps a somewhat rose-tinted one) yet entirely familiar today in its society and families. The story of Charu's life is almost biographical. I most enjoyed the 'happy ending' of her rejection of joint-family life and continued pursuit in an 'unsuitable career', which, along with her parents' breaking of caste and language barriers, would sadly be as remarkable today as they were decades ago. The politics in the later parts of the book are also unfortunately all too familiar.
The railways provide a beautiful background connecting the story together, but characters and emotions are always in the primary focus.
March 26, 2026
I went into Railsong not knowing what to expect and initially struggled with the writing style—it often felt dense and at times unnecessarily complicated, making me reread passages more than I would have liked. But somewhere along the way, I found myself settling into the rhythm of the book and becoming quietly invested in Miss Chitol and her journey through life.
What stayed with me most was her sense of growing self-awareness and the quiet freedom she seems to arrive at by the end. The book doesn’t offer a dramatic resolution, but rather a subtle understanding of who she has become, and I found that deeply satisfying. Even though I didn’t always enjoy the way the story was written, I truly valued the life it portrayed and the perspective it left me with.
What stayed with me most was her sense of growing self-awareness and the quiet freedom she seems to arrive at by the end. The book doesn’t offer a dramatic resolution, but rather a subtle understanding of who she has become, and I found that deeply satisfying. Even though I didn’t always enjoy the way the story was written, I truly valued the life it portrayed and the perspective it left me with.
March 30, 2026
Railsong feels like a trip back in time for anyone who grew up in India during the late 80s/early 90s. It perfectly captures the small-town life and the constant presence of the railways. As a woman, I found the story of the main character’s personal and professional growth very inspiring. The beautiful, poetic writing and the political backdrop made me feel a deep sense of gratitude for how much "easier" my life as a woman is today compared to the generation before us. In many ways, it felt like reading about how my own mother’s journey through her younger years would have been.
It is a 5 stars for me except that the book is a slow burn. While the writing is lovely, the pace stalls so much in certain sections that I had to force myself to pick it back up and keep reading. It’s an evocative and meaningful book, but it requires some patience.
It is a 5 stars for me except that the book is a slow burn. While the writing is lovely, the pace stalls so much in certain sections that I had to force myself to pick it back up and keep reading. It’s an evocative and meaningful book, but it requires some patience.
April 19, 2026
I liked it okay. It suffers from this trope often found in oscar-bait movies: A story centered on how a privileged person evolves in life while the horrors of the underprivileged are the impetus for their journey and are soon relegated to the backdrop.
What was the point of switching POVs from 3rd person to 1st person for a couple of chapters? Author was just having fun?
As a telugu man from Hyderabad, I was glad to see some telugu representation and Amberpet - Hyderabad mentioned. The monologue by Chandramma was heart breaking and also accurately reflects the plight of Dalits. Even the EN text in this portion was well written, reflecting the way working class Telugu people talk, the idioms they chose and the phrasing they prefer etc.
What was the point of switching POVs from 3rd person to 1st person for a couple of chapters? Author was just having fun?
As a telugu man from Hyderabad, I was glad to see some telugu representation and Amberpet - Hyderabad mentioned. The monologue by Chandramma was heart breaking and also accurately reflects the plight of Dalits. Even the EN text in this portion was well written, reflecting the way working class Telugu people talk, the idioms they chose and the phrasing they prefer etc.
February 27, 2026
4.5 stars
This is a truly wonderful read for its creation of the character of Charu Chitol. The author’s perspicacity regarding the many layers and aspects of a woman’s mind and life is truly astounding and quite impressive coming, as it does, from a man. I really liked the book for its ambition and scope as it attempts to capture the story of an emerging India over the 60s to 90s decades, through the stories of the Indian Railways and the national census.
The language was just a bit clunky and some sentences felt too ponderous. And there was perhaps too much information dumped too earnestly in parts, but all in all such a great read that these were not difficult to overlook.
This is a truly wonderful read for its creation of the character of Charu Chitol. The author’s perspicacity regarding the many layers and aspects of a woman’s mind and life is truly astounding and quite impressive coming, as it does, from a man. I really liked the book for its ambition and scope as it attempts to capture the story of an emerging India over the 60s to 90s decades, through the stories of the Indian Railways and the national census.
The language was just a bit clunky and some sentences felt too ponderous. And there was perhaps too much information dumped too earnestly in parts, but all in all such a great read that these were not difficult to overlook.
November 24, 2025
This novel is a beautifully crafted tapestry of personal longing, political undercurrents, and the quiet revolutions that take place inside ordinary lives. Rooted in social history and alive with the spirit of change, the book follows its protagonist through the rhythms of everyday existence—railway journeys, domestic moments, inner conflicts—and turns them into something luminous and memorable.
What stands out most is the lyrical quality of the prose. The writing is gentle yet powerful, full of emotional intelligence and an unhurried depth that lets you settle into the character’s world. The narrative moves with a subtle elegance, blurring the line between the personal and the political—echoing a time when freedom, identity, and the longing for more shaped the texture of daily life.
There’s a quiet courage in the storytelling. Instead of relying on dramatic twists, the author explores the profound in the ordinary—capturing the tenderness, humour, and tragedies that unfold over days and years. The result is a novel that feels both intimate and expansive, one that honours the weight of history while never losing sight of the human heart at its centre.
A deeply evocative, gorgeously written book—perfect for readers who love character-driven stories, poetic writing, and narratives grounded in real social landscapes.
What stands out most is the lyrical quality of the prose. The writing is gentle yet powerful, full of emotional intelligence and an unhurried depth that lets you settle into the character’s world. The narrative moves with a subtle elegance, blurring the line between the personal and the political—echoing a time when freedom, identity, and the longing for more shaped the texture of daily life.
There’s a quiet courage in the storytelling. Instead of relying on dramatic twists, the author explores the profound in the ordinary—capturing the tenderness, humour, and tragedies that unfold over days and years. The result is a novel that feels both intimate and expansive, one that honours the weight of history while never losing sight of the human heart at its centre.
A deeply evocative, gorgeously written book—perfect for readers who love character-driven stories, poetic writing, and narratives grounded in real social landscapes.
Review of advance copy
I was rooting for Charu throughout, and her father had my heart too. Changing the last name was no small gesture, and the fact that he did it mattered. Charu's childhood played a role in who she became later on. That said, there were perhaps too many side stories. I found it hard to keep track of the P, N, J, etc. boyfriends. It was interesting, though, that the author chose not to reveal their names until things felt almost certain.
April 10, 2026
Gosh, what a journey (pun not intended). Mileu building at its finest, probably. I had no idea before I started the book that I would be sucked so deeply into life and lives in the railways.
Props also for crafting a memorable female main character. Miss Chitol is blazing all kinds of trails in this one. But in a quiet, observant, must-get-on-with-it way.
Negative marking for being too verbose at times and letting the narrative drag on a bit in the last third of the book.
Props also for crafting a memorable female main character. Miss Chitol is blazing all kinds of trails in this one. But in a quiet, observant, must-get-on-with-it way.
Negative marking for being too verbose at times and letting the narrative drag on a bit in the last third of the book.
April 18, 2026
More like a 3.5 for me. I loved ms chitol's character but the book was too heavy in details. I also loved the fact that a man was able to write a strong woman's character and provide a view into her mind/ life that well. The language is lovely and has you marvelling over some lines. I loved the juxtaposition of the social events along with ms chitol's life. There is enormous research that has gone into the book. However, the details are just too much. I nearly gave up finishing the book.
December 2, 2025
Nostalgic, quietly powerful, empathetic, and richly detailed. The journey of Charu set against the backdrop of Indian Railways and the various socio-political situations overlapping with themes of gender, identity, caste and relationships is magnificent.
The lyrical prose and the winding sentences combined with grit, wit and dry humor are a testament to the author's writing skills.
What a pick for the book club!
The lyrical prose and the winding sentences combined with grit, wit and dry humor are a testament to the author's writing skills.
What a pick for the book club!
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