Burns Boy (Context, 2025) is now available in bookstores and online here, here, and here.
Read excerpts from Burns Boy in scroll.in and thenewsminute.com
‘A boy in a burns ward is a thing of pity, I learned then. I went to sleep again after medicines, and when I woke up I expected my mother to be by my bed. She wasn’t. I felt a little pang, but ignored it. There were other things to worry about. Like school. And my impending death.’
A fifteen-year-old in a burns ward is tormented by the events that led him to the hospital. His mother and sister have their own versions of what happened, causing the reader to reconsider the truth of what the boy says, but also seeing it anew. All of them are right, and yet, they are all guilty in a way. The question is: which of them is more guilty?
Through the fraught relationships between mothers and sons and mothers and daughters, critically acclaimed writer Krupa Ge peels back the layers of familial truths-the secrets that hide in plain sight, and the pain we endure to keep up appearances. Burns Boy is a tender story about family, love and happiness, and the lies we tell ourselves to sustain them.
Reviews
Every moment, something threatens to break, for the harshest words to tumble out. Ge precisely depicts the cruelty of children – their painfully unforgiving scrutiny and blistering castigation.
– Sayari Debnath, Scroll
The author’s genius lies in the fact that, despite the title, the book does not revolve around a central character, but an incident.
– Ankit Rath, Deccan Chronicle
Interviews
In this drama surrounding a boy admitted to a burns ward, a writer-mother, and a young impressionable sister, one is immersed and finds themselves hurrying to push past the 120-odd pages, wondering if all is truly going to be well in this family drama full of secrets, suspense, sequestering, and quiet solidarity.
– Sanjana Ganesh, The Hindu
Krupa Ge takes us to the 1990s for a family drama steeped in love, guilt, survival, and competing versions of the truth, set in Chennai
– Diya Maria George, The New Indian Express
Krupa Ge 