WINNER, THE TATA LITERATURE LIVE! FIRST BOOK AWARD 2021

SHORTLISTED, AUTHER AWARDS: BEST DEBUT 2021

SHORTLISTED, SUSHILA DEVI AWARD 2022: BEST BOOK OF FICTION

LONG-LISTED, THE JCB PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2021

Gillian Flynn Recommendation On The Today Show, “Best Thriller”

A Crime Reads Favorite Book of The Month

10 Unmissable Books of Summer, France Info

An Amazon Best Book of the Month: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

“Das writes of a dark world where abuse and death sit side by side with love and loyalty and grace. The story is heartbreaking and awful and wonderful, all within the structure of crime fiction.” ―Gillian Flynn on Today.com

“[Rijula] Das’s searing debut centers on the plight of sex workers in contemporary Calcutta, India…This devastating novel is in turn touching and painful to read. Das, a Bengali-to-English translator, is definitely a writer to watch.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Small Deaths by Rijula Das is a real find―a masterly debut.…The plot is deftly managed, moving almost effortlessly to the bittersweet ending. This is a highly accomplished debut.”―The Spectator

“A deeply human portrait…bitterly cynical, surprisingly humorous, and astonishingly beautiful.” ―CrimeReads

“Peopled with fully realized characters and locations, Small Deaths is a tour de force first novel that grips the reader and doesn’t let go.” ―Authorlink

“It takes a keen insight to portray women like Lalee, Maya, Amina, and Sonia in all their profundity and shallowness. Das knows her women well.” ―Feminism in India

“Rijula Das has evaded the prevalent tropes of writing. It is very difficult to pin down the genre she is writing in―is it a love story, for instance; is it a murder mystery; is it a novel about social justice? The book gives light to the popular and wrong notion that literature needs to necessarily be heavy. It manages to achieve everything that good literature does while at the same time being entertaining. It is full of beautiful humorous touches and outstanding at zooming in to details.” ―Judges of the JCB Prize for Literature 2021

“An intensely gripping tale of a crime and an investigation set against the dark side of the city of Calcutta; yet, at the same time, it is a story that is luminous with redeeming touches of love and hope, and a final sense of justice.” ―Judges of the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award 2021

“Rijula Das’s book is as gripping as the best crime fiction but also as intricate and well constructed as good literature should be. It’s relentless action, but the characters are not caricatures…The observations are so acute and at the same time so funny.” ―Amit Varma

“Rijula Das surprises you with everything in this book: the writing, the scenes, the characters, the story. A debut you cannot stop reading.” ―Arunava Sinha

“Addictive and hilarious. Rijula Das is a writer to watch.” ―Avni Doshi, author of Burnt Sugar, shortlisted for the Booker Prize