Pan Macmillan India’s Picador imprint will publish And I Am the Arrow, the debut novel by award-winning writer Pia Ghosh-Roy, on 25 August 2026.
Set across Calcutta, London and New York, the novel traces the lives of three generations of women from the Chatterjee family while weaving together themes of memory, grief, identity and inherited trauma. Blending literary fiction with elements of the supernatural, the story is narrated through multiple voices—including the ghost of a man whose death continues to shape the family’s destiny.
At the heart of the novel is Chatterjee Mansion, a 1940s art-deco house in Calcutta where long-buried secrets begin to surface after family matriarch Niyoti falls into a coma. As her granddaughter Mishu returns to India and waits alongside her mother Ira and the family’s longtime servant Bani, hidden truths emerge, taking readers through decades of love, loss, ambition and betrayal.
Pia Ghosh-Roy
The 360-page novel explores womanhood, class, colourism, sexuality, migration and belonging, while vividly capturing the cultural fabric of Calcutta through its food, music, rituals and language. Spanning continents and generations, it offers a layered portrait of family relationships and the enduring impact of the past.
The novel has drawn praise from several acclaimed authors. Namita Gokhale described it as “an intense intergenerational saga” told with “passion and sparkling wit,” while Mahesh Rao called it “elegant and expansive,” applauding its sensitive exploration of family life. Author Melissa Fu hailed it as “a stunning debut novel” with richly layered storytelling and unforgettable characters.
Pia Ghosh-Roy grew up in Calcutta and now lives in Cambridge, UK. A former advertising copywriter, her fiction has appeared in leading literary journals, including Prairie Schooner, Ambit, Craft and Split Lip. She is the recipient of the Hamlin Garland Award and the Cagibi Macaron Prize, and has been shortlisted for several international writing awards. And I Am the Arrow marks her first novel.
