The Girl With The Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup

 

The Girl with the Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup.

Published 13th August 2026 by Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

Devi is a fighter. Growing up in the slums of Delhi, she has learnt that survival comes at a cost - and naturally, that means she's made a few enemies along the way.

Now she's being held captive, her life up for sale in an online auction, where the highest bidder will determine her fate.

With her existence hanging in the balance, Devi proceeds to give her captor 'a confession to beat all confessions' - as over the course of a single night, Devi unveils the secrets of her seven extraordinary lives.

Devi is the ultimate survivor - a girl from the gutters who dares to rewrite her own destiny. But will she survive the longest night of her life?

A high-stakes tour-de-force from Vikas Swarup, the internationally bestselling author of Q & A, the book that inspired one of the most memorable films of the twenty-first century: hit Hollywood, multiple-Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

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Devi grew up in the slums of Delhi. She has had to take on several different identities to survive in the twenty-five years she has been on this earth, and has made many enemies along the way.

Now she has been plucked from the streets and is being held captive by a masked man, who plans to auction her to the highest bidder amongst the group of wealthy people looking for vengeance for the wrongs they believe she has done them.

But before the deal is done, Devi must tell the story of her seven lives to her captor. She has one night to reveal her secrets in one more battle for survival...

After more than a decade since his last book, Vikas Swarup, author of Q & A (the debut that spawned the block-buster movie Slumdog Millionaire), returns with a novel that beautifully explores the chaotic and contradictory nature of India through the eyes of his compelling protagonist, Devi.

The novel begins with Devi held captive by an unknown abductor, who forces her to tell the story of her 'seven lives', and bear witness to the 'crimes' that she has committed in the eyes of the buyers who hold her fate in the balance. Each part of the book covers a different identity, beginning with her childhood as Devi, and then cycling through her experiences as Deepa, Deeba, Dasmeet, Deepthi, Diana, and Dolly, which have taken her the length and breadth of her homeland - and from dire poverty on the streets, to the luxury abodes of the India's elite.

Swarup's skill as a master storyteller shows in the moments of love, kinship, stark reality, and horror, and Devi stands proud as the kind of complicated anti-hero it is easy to take to your heart. Some episodes flow better than others, but in each of her guises Swarup does a good job exploring the  difficult choices she has made, many of which have led her to stray wildly off the straight and narrow - and the segues connecting them are cleverly handled. I very much enjoyed that the only judgement here comes from the masked man and the gradually-revealed participants in the auction who are after her blood. In most cases it it easy to see that blaming her is much easier than taking responsibility for their own actions, or those of people close to them - but even when the things she has done are in the name of revenge, her reasoning is very clear to understand - and, to my mind, forgive.

Against a backdrop that oozes plotlines rich in heart-rending trauma, abuse of the vulnerable, far-reaching cons, and astonishing corruption, Devi fixes your attention. Golden nuggets of warmth, friendship in adversity, and the kindness of strangers lighten the brutality of the story which I needed at times, but there are many bitter pills to swallow here about modern day India that sent my thoughts spinning.

Intense, immersive, cinematic, and with an entertaining twist, this is a heart-pounding return to the literary stage by Vikas Swarup. I swallowed it whole!

The Girl with the Seven Lives is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook, and audio formats.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for sending me a review copy of this book.

About the author:

Vikas Swarup is a member of the Indian Foreign Service. Q&A was his first novel. An international bestseller, it has been translated into over forty languages, and was made into the multiple Oscar-winning film SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.