Book review of A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar

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As the second novel from Megha Majumdar—former book editor and author of one of the best debuts of 2020, A Burning—opens, one of its two lead characters, Ma, hears someone whistling from a bicycle, “as if everything was all right.” Her immediate thought is thief: Someone surely got his hands on some vegetables, someone who might have been hoping to overhear where the neighborhood’s stores are kept.

In Ma’s world, a near-future Kolkata, India, people are willing to do anything to protect themselves or, if they’re really lucky, to get out. Kolkata is ravaged by drought and food scarcity because of the climate crisis: Pests destroyed the crops, farmers fell sick and animals died out. In the river, a billionaire lives in a “floating hexagon,” donating food to the poor from time to time, but it’s not enough. The embodiment of maternal urgency and ferocity, eagle-eyed Ma plans to do whatever it takes to get her father, Dadu, and child, Mishti, to Michigan, where they will join her husband, Baba.

The book’s other main character is Boomba, a young thief who’s come to Kolkata to try to earn money for his family, who are barely surviving in a village a few hours away. Boomba knows Ma’s secret—that she has stolen food from a local shelter—and breaks into their house to take his own share. In the process, he accidentally takes the papers necessary for their emigration, mere days before they are set to depart. The collision of Ma and Boomba sets in motion a spiraling descent with little room for hope. “Lies were the lifeblood of the world,” thinks Boomba. “Lies activated the menacing truth . . . take what you want, or others will take it.”

And yet, the hope that remains in A Guardian and a Thief puts up a good fight against Boomba’s practical nihilism. Dadu, in particular, carries so much love for the city, filled with neighborly gossips and helpers, barbers and rickshaw drivers. It’s a network of relationships that’s being lost. “The best philosopher, don’t you know, is the one who laughs, and makes others laugh,” Dadu tells Ma. “This city will survive because it is full of such street corner philosophers. They understand that laughing is the most truthful way of approaching life.”

Despite the devastation of Majumdar’s novels, she never makes the mistake of foregrounding systems and sacrificing her characters’ humanity. There is no level of remove here. So much of what is reported about the climate crisis highlights corporations and governments, but in A Guardian and a Thief, Majumdar shows us how these powerful institutions impact actual people’s lives. It’s wrenching, but with this incredible story Majumdar has given us something precious: truth.