Hand-drawn illustration of an adult and baby tiger with orange fur and black stripes, facing left.

We that are young

Winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize for the finest literary debut novel of the year
Winner of the Eastern Eye Award for Literature
Galley Beggar Press / AA Knopf

We that are young is a translation of Shakespeare's King Lear, set in contemporary India.

When Jivan Singh returns to his childhood home after a long absence, it's only to witness the unexpected resignation of Devraj, the founding father of the Company, a vast corporation at the heart of Indian life. On the same day, Devraj's youngest daughter Sita absconds - refusing to submit to marriage. Her older sisters Gargi and Radha must take over the family business. So begins a vicious struggle for power, ranging from the luxury hotels of New Delhi and Amritsar, the palaces and slums of Napurthala, to the beautiful but war-ravaged city of Srinagar, Kashmir.

‘A masterpiece. Uncompromising, fierce and emotionally vast.’

- Omar El Akkad

‘Tigers, not daughters, what have you perfomed?’ - King Lear, IV.II

We That Are Young is a modern-day King Lear that bursts with energy and fierce, beautifully measured rage. It presents a startling insight into modern India, the rise of religious nationalism, the reality for women, the clash of youth and age, the intensity of life, and the ever-present spectre of death in one of the world's fastest growing economies.

It is the winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize for the finest literary debut novel of the year, and was shortlisted for the Folio Prize, the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and the Prix Jan Michalski. It was The Sunday Times Top 10 Book of the Year and The Hindu top 10 Book of the Decade. It is published in translation worldwide, and in the USA by AA Knopf.

Orange book cover of We That Are Young by Preti Taneja

  • ‘Revelatory. Urgent and irresistible...One of the most exquisite and original novels of the year.’

    - The Sunday Times

  • ‘We that are young is like nothing else. Its daring is outrageous.’

    - Literary Review

  • ‘An extraordinary reimagining…as exciting to me as coming upon ‘Lear' for the first time.’

    - James Shapiro

  • ‘Brilliant…finely crafted...Taneja has given us that rarest of beasts: a page-turner that is also unabashedly political.’

    - The Guardian

  • ‘The absolute mastery of Taneja's narrative style and the precision of her language is unforgettable.’

    - LA Review of Books

Awards and recognition

The Prix Jan Michalski
Republic of Consciousness Prize
The Folio Prize
The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize
Books Are My Bag Reader's Choice Awards
The Jhalak Prize
The Hindu Top Ten Books of the Decade
Library Journal Top 10 Literary Fiction Books of the Year
The Sunday Times Top 10 Books of the Year
The Hindu Top 10 Books Of The Year
Guardian Books Of The Year
Spectator Books Of The Year
Amazon Book Of The Month
The White Review Books Of The Year

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The Desmond Elliott Prize
The Eastern Eye Award for Literature

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Aftermath

Winner of the Gordon Burn Prize
A New Yorker Book of the Year
Transit Books / And Other Stories

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Editorial

Collaborations, commissions, art and publishing 

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