About the Book

Banaras, Varanasi, Kashi: India’s holy city on the banks of the Ganges has many names but holds one ultimate promise for Hindus. It is the place where pilgrims come for a good death, to be released from the cycle of reincarnation by purifying fire. As the dutiful manager of a death hostel in Kashi, Pramesh welcomes the dying and assists families bound for the funeral pyres that burn constantly on the ghats. The soul is gone, the body is burnt, the time is past, he tells them. Detach.

After ten years in the timeless city, Pramesh can nearly persuade himself that here, there is no past or future. He lives contentedly at the death hostel with his wife, Shobha, their young daughter, Rani, the hostel priests, his hapless but winning assistant, and the constant flow of families with their dying. But one day the past arrives in the lifeless form of a man pulled from the river—a man with an uncanny resemblance to Pramesh.

Called “twins” in their childhood village, he and his cousin Sagar are inseparable until Pramesh leaves to see the outside world and Sagar stays to tend the land. After Pramesh marries Shobha, defying his family’s wishes, a rift opens up between the cousins that he has long since tried to forget. Do not look back. Detach. But for Shobha, Sagar’s reemergence casts a shadow over the life she’s built for her family. Soon, an unwelcome guest takes up residence in the death hostel, the dying mysteriously continue to live, and Pramesh is forced to confront his own ideas about death, rebirth, and redemption. 

Told in lush, vivid detail and with an unforgettable cast of characters, The City of Good Death is a remarkable debut novel of family and love, memory and ritual, and the ways in which we honor the living and the dead.

Praise for The City of Good Death

“In Champaneri’s ambitious, vivid debut, the dying come to the holy city of Kashi to die a good death that frees them from the burden of reincarnation…. In sharp prose, Champaneri explores the power of stories—those the characters tell themselves, those told about them, and those they believe…. This epic, magical story of death teems with life.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Throughout this epic, Champaneri remains attuned to such atmospheric details, both physical and emotional…. The novel pays particular attention to the topographies of mourning…. [It] remains an intimate portrait of Pramesh, and yet the other characters allow Champaneri to articulate how grief and healing are social processes…. Just as grief descends, sudden and sweeping, so too can wonder and joy.”

—Spencer Quong, The New York Times Book Review

“Brimming with characters whose lives overlap and whose stories interweave, Champaneri’s exquisite debut delves into the consequences of the past, and how stories that are told can become reality even when they contain barely a shred of truth. As Pramesh discovers, the bitterness of past wounds can bring hope for redemption and life.”

—Bridget Thoreson, Booklist

“Lush prose evokes the thick, close atmosphere of Kashi and the intricate religious practices upon which life and death depend. Rumor and superstition hold sway over even the most level-headed people, twisting what’s explainable into something extraordinary—with tragic consequences…. The City of Good Death is a breathtaking, unforgettable novel about how remembering the past is just as important as moving on.”

—Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews, Starred Review

“Champaneri’s Kashi is teeming and vivid ... the book frequently charms, and it's as full of humor, warmth, and mystery as Kashi’s own marketplace.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“The City of Good Death is the debut novel of Priyanka Champaneri but it has the confidence of a master storyteller. Drawing on the rich literary traditions of Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy, Champaneri’s epic saga will satisfy armchair travelers thirsty for adventure, and sick of looking out their windows.”

—Chicago Review of Books

“What follows is an astounding mystery in which nothing cooperates as it should—not even the dead…. As the city stirs with gossip and intrigue, Pramesh and Shobha deal with hauntings of all kinds, their stories weaving around one another to reveal the intersection of love and grief, and perhaps even illuminating some of the mysteries of the Land of the Dead.”

—The Arkansas International

“Champaneri's descriptive prose is precise and evocative…. The classic cliffhanger at the end of almost every chapter isn't contrived but integral to the story and its arcs. Making full use of the mysticism and magnetism of Kashi, Champaneri immerses us in a city teeming with as much life as death.”

—Jenny Bhatt, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“As Pramesh contemplates his own childhood in the village where he grew up and all the ways in which he and his twin cousin shared their early lives together, it is a beautiful combination of nostalgia and heartbreak. I found myself too thinking about these scenes and others in the weeks after I finished the book, a sign of a poignant story and one that had gotten its hooks into me.”

—Lauren Woods, DCTrending

“In intricate detail and with remarkable skill, Champaneri writes a powerful tale about the pull of the past and our aching need to understand the mysteries and misunderstandings that thwart our relationships. An atmospheric and immersive debut with a rich cast of characters you won’t soon forget.”

—Marjan Kamali, author of The Stationery Shop

"The City of Good Death is an extraordinary novel—beautifully written, rich in characters of great complexity and passion—a family story at once familiar and exotic. I loved this novel of life and death, of time and memory. It has the depth of feeling and particularity of scene that transports the reader from the world as we know it to the world we discover and cannot forget in the death hostel in Kashi. There is so much in these characters to love and admire. I could not put the book down."

—Susan Richards Shreve, author of More News Tomorrow

“The City of Good Death reads so like the book of a seasoned author, it is hard to believe it is Champaneri’s first. From the opening words she pulls you in, weaves you into the threads of Kashi, a city where people flock to die and others flee to a new life. Her impeccable sentences move through you like the river at the city’s heart, tides of happiness interrupted by rising storms of fear, mystery, and difficult love. It is a book where magic lies right alongside the mess and beauty of human life, a book about family, tradition, and forgiveness, about finding your way even if it means turning your back on where you are from. It’s the sort of book that, as I wait for the author’s next work of genius, I will not be able to resist reading it again.” 

—Lisa Carey, author of The Stolen Child

“The City of Good Death is a reflection on dying and on life and love and all the complications that living and dying entail. Told in accessible, evocative prose, it takes the reader into the hearts of its characters and the dilemmas they must resolve to maintain the relationships they value. This is a beautiful book unlike any other I have read recently, and forever the images of the river Ganges and the characters—the living and the dead—that populate its banks will remain with me.”

—Helon Habila, author of Travelers and Oil on Water

“This contemplative debut novel, rendered with evocative prose, will make you think about life, death and redemption, together with its cast of finely drawn characters.”

—Shilpi Somaya Gowda, author of The Shape of Family

“I was transported to India by this debut novel, for which the author won the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. Well-deserved, too. A recurring theme is looking back or not looking back and the consequences of both. It tells the story of cousins who are more like twin brothers, growing up with their two abusive, denigrating fathers, and the choices each makes. Don't pass this one up.”

—Barbara Lubin, White Birch Books (Conway, New Hampshire)

“This is an insightful look at the Hindu traditions surrounding death and ‘funerals’ in the Holy City of Kashi. We go inside the hostel and see the life of Pramesh and his family, as they faithfully attend to the families coming with the bodies of their loved ones. But when a corpse shows up after being found in the river, it is not easy to ‘…Not look back. Detach,’ as they always tell the family members. There is a history here and their own family is soon embroiled in an emotional turmoil that changes everything. This is a remarkable cultural story but also one of common humanity. Book clubs will want to give it a look.”

—Linda Bond, Auntie’s Bookstore (Spokane, WA)

“This character-rich, atmospheric novel, winner of the 2018 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, is a delightful mix of humor, heartbreak, and insight.”

—Cindy Pauldine, river’s end bookstore (Oswego, NY)