Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard is the first novel by Indian-born American author Kiran Desai. Published in 1998, it tells the story of a young man in rural India who chooses to live in a guava tree instead of taking an easy post office job. The locals believe him to be a prophet because he makes pronouncements about their lives, unaware that he learned this information from reading their mail. The novel was critically acclaimed and received a Betty Trask Prize. Desai's work often explores themes of multigenerational family dynamics, postcolonialism, and immigration.12