A People’s History of Heaven

by Mathangi Subramanian

“The language [takes] on a musicality that is in sharp contrast to the bleak setting . . . refreshing . . . a strong debut.”
—New York Times Book Review

“Subramanian writes with empathy and exuberance, offering a much-needed glimpse into a world that too many of us don’t even know exists. This is a book to give your little sister, your mother, your best friend, yourself, so together you can celebrate the strength of women and girls, the tenacity it takes to survive in a world that would rather have you disappear.”
—Nylon

In the tight-knit community known as Heaven, a ramshackle slum hidden between luxury high-rises in Bangalore, India, five girls on the cusp of womanhood forge an unbreakable bond. Muslim, Christian, Hindu; queer, and straight; they are full of life, and they love and accept one another unconditionally. Whatever they have, they share. Marginalized women are determined to transcend their surroundings.

When the local government threatens to demolish their tin shacks in order to build a shopping mall, the girls and their mothers refuse to be erased. Together they wage war on the bulldozers sent to bury their homes, and, ultimately, on the city that wishes that families like them would remain hidden forever.

Elegant, poetic, and vibrant, A People’s History of Heaven takes a clear-eyed look at adversity and geography–and dazzles in its depiction of these women’s fierceness and determination not just to survive, but to triumph.

Hardcover | 304 pages | Algonquin Books | 2019
Paperback | 320 pages | Algonquin Books | 2020

Mathangi Subramanian, Ed.D., is a writer, educator, and activist. She previously served as Senior Policy Adviser to former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, an Assistant Vice President at Sesame Workshop, and a public school teacher in Texas and New York. She has received numerous honors, including a Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship and a Jacob Javits Fellowship.