The novel 'The God of Small Things' is written by:

"The God of Small Things" is the debut novel of Arundhati Roy, published in 1997. It won the Booker Prize in 1997, making Roy the first Indian woman (and the first non-expatriate Indian) to win the prize.

About the novel:

• It is set mainly in Ayemenem, a village in Kottayam district, Kerala, in 1969, with flashbacks and flash-forwards to 1993.
• It tells the story of the fraternal twins Estha and Rahel, their mother Ammu, and Velutha, a Dalit carpenter with whom Ammu has a forbidden relationship.
• The novel explores caste discrimination, the "Love Laws" that decide "who should be loved, and how, and how much", family conflict, and the impact of politics on private lives.
• It is known for its unusual, poetic use of language, with invented words and playful capitalisation.

About Arundhati Roy:

She was born in 1961 in Shillong, Meghalaya, and grew up in Kerala. She trained as an architect.

She wrote the screenplay for the film "In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones" (1989), which won a National Film Award.

Her second novel, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness", came twenty years later, in 2017.

She is also a well-known essayist and activist. Her non-fiction works include "The Algebra of Infinite Justice", "Walking with the Comrades", "Broken Republic" and "Azadi".

In 2006, she declined the Sahitya Akademi Award for her essay collection "The Algebra of Infinite Justice" in protest against government policies.

Other Indian women novelists:

• Anita Desai: "Clear Light of Day", "Fire on the Mountain", "In Custody".
• Kiran Desai: "The Inheritance of Loss" (Booker, 2006).
• Jhumpa Lahiri: "Interpreter of Maladies" (Pulitzer Prize, 2000) and "The Namesake".

Why not the other options?

• ✗Anita Desai was shortlisted three times for the Booker but did not win.
• ✗Kiran Desai won the Booker in 2006.
• ✗Jhumpa Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for "Interpreter of Maladies".