ARUNDHATI ROY

Suzanna Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961) is an Indian writer (in English) and activist on social justice and economic inequality issues.

first novel : The God of Small Things, 1996, semi-autobiographical, her childhood experiences in Ayemenem
International fame, Booker Prize for Fiction

Hard to talk about this book because, there's no main character, every single person has his importance

I'll talk a little bit about the Indian Caste System :

Brahmins : Priest, scholars, teachers, (Nehru)
Kshatriyas : Warriors and rulers
Vaishyas : Traders, Gandhi
Sudras :Manual workers
Dalits (untouchables) : unpleasant jobs, cleaning, leather tanning

Pappachi, entomologist, father of Chacko and Ammu is married with Mammachi. He seems to be a really good father and husband but in fact he's beating his wife. One day Chacko stops him and tells him never to do it again. Since that, Pappachi never hits nor speaks to Mammachi again. He also vorbids Ammu to go to college.
Ammu is desperate, she convinces her parents to let her spend a summer in Calcutta. To avoid going back home, she gets married with a man who manages a tea estate (he's an alcoholic, who attends to prostitute her to his boss so that he can keep his job). Ammu has two children ; The'yre twins : Rahel and Esthappen. She finally leaves his husband and returns to live with her family in Ayemenem.
Chacko, Ammu's brother was studying at Oxford, there he met an English woman : Margaret and they married. She gave birth to a daughter : Sophie Mol. Then shortly after the birth Margaret and Chacko get divorced. Margaret met another guy and Chacko, who didn't find a job went back to India as a teacher, he's still in love with Margaret.
Margaret remarries, bit sadly Joe is killed in an accident. Chacko invites Margaret and Sophie to spend Christmas in Ayemenem.
Velutha is an untouchable, a dalit. He's working for Chacko. He's extremely gifted and he's indispensable at the pickle