Others: Longlisted For The Women's Prize For Fiction 2026

It is 1989, and in a small Baltic city in East Germany, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, three young people from vastly different backgrounds become friends. Armando is a factory worker from Mozambique, Lolita is a medical student from India, and Theo is an East Berliner who dreams of being a writer.When Armando and Lolita make a grisly discovery, they find themselves caught up in the politics of Theo’s homeland more than ever before. While a quiet revolution sweeps through Eastern Europe, and the Berlin Wall teeters, the three find themselves entangled in a poignant love triangle which threatens their futures.As the world order shifts, their three lives are bound together in a web of love, lies and fears, leaving each irrevocably changed.

“An expert novel, The Others is superbly organized, with a steady, tense air of suspense, fine and persuasive emotion, and, above all, truly rich characters alive in a real history. The last pages produced in me a gasp of amazement.” – Jonathan Lethem, Author of Motherless Brooklyn, National Book Critics Circle Award winner

‘The Others is a love story, but it’s also magnificently more; setting and historical and political context are incredibly skilfully deployed; but there is also a rare and precious breadth of imagination in the novel.’ - Emma Henderson, Author of The Valentine House

‘Kalayil’s deft prose is both precise and lyrical, vividly conjuring place, time and characters in flux.’ - Joanna Nadin, Sunday Times no 1. bestselling author and Professor of Creative Writing, University of Bristol