Three acclaimed novelists explore solitude, freedom, and self-invention. Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny follows two young people across India, Vermont, and New York City as they navigate family ties, social class, and the pursuit of happiness. Yu-Mei Balasingamchow’s Names Have Been Changed traces a fugitive’s journey from Singapore to a life on the run after a petty crime spirals out of control, exploring identity, reinvention, and the shifting meaning of home. Leïla Slimani’s I’ll Take the Fire (trans. Sam Taylor), chronicles a young woman’s coming-of-age in socially conservative Morocco as she pursues personal, sexual, and political freedom while defining her own place in the world. Moderated by Margie Cook, Associate Manager of Public Programs, New York Public Library.
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