“The Earthspinner captures the mood of sectarian strife and futile fanaticism in contemporary India. And yet it is a quiet, gentle work, never gratuitous…Intricate yet intimate, the novel allows imagination to fill the rest – as all good fiction should.” — Sana Goyal, The Guardian
"A story of love, loss and longing; tradition, creation and destruction; and the invisible lines that divide humans, animals and the divine...a quiet, gentle work, never gratuitous...Intricate yet intimate, the novel allows imagination to fill the rest – as all good fiction should." — The Guardian
"Roy delivers profound insights on the power of art ... the hideous nature of religious intolerance, and perhaps most sadly, the consequences of pursuing a dream. This is Roy’s best to date." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Roy's multilayered novel evokes the craft of pottery with a gentle touch while rendering a moving depiction of the power of guilt." — Booklist (starred review)
"Like Roy's other novels, The Earthspinner uses dreamlike lyricism alongside even-handed description, giving its gradual accumulation of tension a mesmerizing cadence. ... With these various perspectives framing Elango's dreamlike tale, The Earthspinner is a kaleidoscopic glimpse into the fragile web of connections and ruptures, divine convergences and missed opportunities that make up life's unpredictable and breathtaking pattern." — Shelf Awareness
“The literary and mythological references, coupled with Roy’s vivid descriptive prose, provide a rich texture to the narrative. The subtle moments of foreshadowing add to the narrative sophistication.” — Chandrima Das, The Telegraph
“A quiet and moving work that gathers together an intricate web of modern lives and experiences, but breathes into them the elemental power of mythology, of the natural world, and of human love and hate... Here, both beauty and truth are terrible, incendiary, consuming. But Roy shapes it all with the touch of a seasoned potter, deft and light.” — Mandakini Dubey, Biblio
“Deeply resonant with the world of today. The novel is a haunting investigation into grief and loss and the need for creative impulse to rise above it all…about the fragility of the freedoms to live and love the way we want.” — Reader's Digest