Coolie

Mulk Raj Anand · 1905–2004 · India

Why it matters

A fourteen-year-old boy is driven from his Himalayan village into a punishing odyssey through servant work, a Bombay factory, and a rich family's household. Anand's second novel widens Untouchable's indictment from caste to the whole machinery of colonial labor.

At a glance

An episodic journey through multiple settings and social classes, told in plain, direct prose.