Da: A tender coming-of-age novel

by Arathi Menon

194 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2026

About the author

Arathi Menon is an author and columnist based in London. Her debut literary fiction novel was published by Fly on the Wall Press, UK and Picador, India. She completed her MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) at the University of East Anglia. Her debut book, a memoir titled Leaving Home with Half a Fridge, was published by Pan Macmillan India. Her middle-grade mystery novel, A Thud in the Middle of the Night, was brought out by DC Books, Kerala, and later published by Yali Books, New York, under the title A Mystery at Lili Villa.

Her awards include the SI Leeds Literary Prize and Novel London. She has also been on numerous shortlists and longlists, including the BPA First Novel Award, Cinnamon Literary Award, Virginia Prize for Fiction, UA 100X100, FAB Prize, Ivan Juritz Prize and the Penguin WriteNow programme. She was part of a spoken word group installation at Tate Modern, London. You can find her on Instagram on https://www.instagram.com/arathimenon...

Reviews

[Fictionandme · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the book merely 10 min ago and the only thing I can think of is - why must people be this unkind? I am feeling angry and hurt and betrayed and so so heartbroken after finishing this story. Thank you so much author @ara for creating this book and such beautiful real characters.

The story is set in 2013 India, merely 13 years ago (I can't believe 2013 is 13 years away from me backwards), when being gay was still considered illegal in India. Ved lives with his adoptive father Da, after death of his mother at childbirth, who was Da's sister. We get to know their home structure gradually, their warm fight free unconventional household filled with yummy recipes and openness and love, which kinda reminded me of Lorelai and Rory from Gilmore Girls. Then Da is revealed to be gay when he starts seeing this guy Vamsi, whom Ved originally feels jealous about sharing his Da with, but is gradually welcomed. Then comes Ved's first girlfriend and the rush of first love and his constant mental struggle of understanding his Da's sexuality and thereby his own, because that is the one topic they don't discuss at home. And then Da's secret gets revealed because of Ved's trust on the wrong person, which leads to so many heartbreaking events for this small tightly knit loved household of a son and his father.

Since childhood, we have been taught repeatedly how to locate the "bad" people and avoid them. But what happens when the person happens to be from your family or one of your near ones, who choose to hurt you so much, just because they can? In this story, these people, ranging from children to adults behaved like vultures, picking away at a living family, just because they didn't understand. They didn't understand how a man can love another man. Ignorance can be such a violent thing. In the name of love, people can kill their dear ones. What Da's parents told Ved at the end, literally made me see red. Why can't parents and friends and lovers and everyone just let people be happy, even if they don't follow their ways? Why do people always need to control the narrative rather than choosing kindness? Has everyone forgotten the saying - live and let live?

Today, section 377 has been abolished. But when will bigotry and ignorance and the need to control be abolished? When can we welcome acceptance? That is when our country will be truly independent.

[Deepanwita Bose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would really request everyone to please read this book, the emotions you will feel while reading this book is not be described in words. Not to spoil but how the story is based on actual circumstances just breaks my heart, believe me when we say we support LBTQ we don't even know what they went through, it gave a very heartbreaking perspective on how law is so unfair and unjust. Honestly, I might be babbling at this point, you have to read this book once in your life.

[Merlyn Jyothi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Left me sad. The cruelty of family, the love of family both come through. Thoroughly enjoyed the everyday life, the travails of growing up, and the shattering of a fragile society fraught with fear of the different. Yet there is hope, the human spirit that survives and stays to tell a tale of a life less ordinary.

[Mili Das · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am crying after reading it, speechless.