As India prepares to celebrate the 120th birth anniversary of one of its most beloved storytellers, R.K. Narayan, Penguin Random House has announced a new novel that captures the warmth, wit, and quiet magic of his legacy. Rukmini Aunty and the R.K. Narayan Fan Club by Sita Bhaskar, releasing this November, is a deeply nostalgic homage to the creator of Malgudi Days and the world he immortalized.

Set in contemporary Mysuru, Bhaskar’s novel tells the story of Rukmini Aunty and her group of neighbourhood women who band together to save the crumbling R.K. Narayan House from demolition. Inspired by the real R.K. Narayan Museum—once the author’s own residence—the novel becomes a tender exploration of memory, community, and the fight to preserve cultural heritage in a rapidly changing India.

What begins as a local campaign evolves into a reflection on how nations remember their storytellers. Through humour, nostalgia, and the intimacy of everyday observation, Bhaskar crafts a narrative that feels both timeless and timely—celebrating women as custodians of culture and fiction as a bridge between past and present.

“At its heart, Rukmini Aunty and the R.K. Narayan Fan Club is not just a tribute,” says Penguin in a statement. “It’s a mirror held up to the India of today, asking how we remember the voices that shaped us.”

The book’s protagonist, Rukmini Aunty, initially resents the derelict house that mars the view from her meditation nook—until she learns it once belonged to R.K. Narayan himself. As bureaucracy and real estate pressures threaten to erase this literary landmark, Rukmini and her fellow readers become unlikely heroes, determined to preserve a slice of India’s storytelling heritage.

Sita Bhaskar, who divides her time between Madison and Mysuru, is the author of Tara and Sandy: Slow Dance of Infinite Stars (with Sabarna Roy), Flirting With Trouble, and Shielding Her Modesty. Her fiction often bridges cultures and explores the inner lives of women navigating tradition and change.

Warm, witty, and full of heart, Rukmini Aunty and the R.K. Narayan Fan Club promises to delight readers who grew up with Malgudi Days, while inviting a new generation to rediscover the quiet power of Narayan’s world—and the readers who refuse to let it fade.

Book Details:
Rukmini Aunty and the R.K. Narayan Fan Club
By Sita Bhaskar
Published by Penguin Random House India
Releasing: November 2025