The Complex | Award-winning author of The Association of Small Bombs returns with a new novel

by Karan Mahajan, Ranjit Madgavkar (Narrator)

'To watch the wily Chopras jostle for dominion-not just over the crumbling walls of their shared home, but over the very historical and moral record of their age-is pure pleasure.'

-MADHURI VIJAY

'This family saga feels like wonderfully told backstories of people you have certainly met at a Delhi wedding, even as it is filled with memorable lines about marriage and the nature of tortured people. This is a tale about family that only an Indian can tell.'

-MANU JOSEPH

'Brutal, knifesharp, tender-Karan Mahajan packs an entire world of desire, incendiary politics, greed, and transgression into this engrossing tale of a family bartering old myths for new.'

-NILANJANA ROY


In Delhi, in the 1970s, the sons and daughters of S.P. Chopra, one of India's political architects, live together in a sprawling complex-A-19 Modern Colony-vying for influence in a family shaped by the great man's legacy. By the end of the decade, the descendants are scrambling

to define their own futures in a still-young nation on the brink of transformation.

Newlyweds Gita and Sachin Chopra immigrate to America, believing it's the only way to escape the pressure cooker that is Sachin's prominent family. Yet Delhi remains an inescapable force, one that keeps pulling them back, even as Gita is menaced by Sachin's predatory uncle, Laxman. A man of restless ambition, Laxman ascends the ranks of a rising Hindu nationalist movement, while Vibha, his sister, tries to keep the peace and the reputation of the family intact.

As India erupts in violence in the 1990s, and Laxman gains power, The Complex compels one to Could the ferment in A-19 reflect the convulsions of a nation? Equal parts brilliant family saga and piercing political drama, this is an extraordinary novel of revenge and redemption, ambition and undoing, loyalty and love, by one of the most lauded voices in contemporary fiction.

Audible Audio

Published August 1, 2026

About the author

Karan Mahajan is the author of "The Association of Small Bombs," which was a finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award, and was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review. His debut novel "Family Planning" was a finalist for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. He has been selected as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists, and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and other venues. He is an associate professor in Literary Arts at Brown University. His third novel, "The Complex," is forthcoming in March 2026.

Reviews

[Hina Rao · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Complex was a bleak and demanding read, and I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it. None of the characters were particularly likable—which is fine—but most were also morally flawed, which is equally fine but what became a real drawback for me was that I couldn’t emotionally connect with a single one of them.
There were some beautifully written passages, and I appreciated Mahajan’s prose and psychological insight. But I’m not sure that was enough to make me enjoy the book as a whole. It took me nearly ten days to get through just over 400 pages, which says a lot about its pace and how little it gripped me.