In 'A Guardian and a Thief,' a mother’s love for her family threatens her own morals

Summary

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NPR's Book of the Day

Episode Summary: “In 'A Guardian and a Thief,' a Mother’s Love for Her Family Threatens Her Own Morals”

Date: November 12, 2025
Host: Andrew Limbong
Guest: Megha Majumdar (author), Jane Clason (interviewer)

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Episode Overview

This episode features a conversation with author Megha Majumdar about her new novel, A Guardian and a Thief, which is set in a near-future, climate-ravaged Kolkata, India. The story examines the dark and complicated facets of love, hope, and morality as a mother’s fierce devotion to family forces her to confront—and sometimes cross—ethical boundaries. The discussion delves into the emotional origins of the novel, the complexities of human nature, and how crisis changes or exposes our morality.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Setting and Origins (01:16 – 03:00)

• The Devastated Kolkata:
  The novel is set in a near-future Kolkata dealing with famine and environmental catastrophe. Families are forced into desperate survival measures.
• Personal Roots:
  Majumdar draws from growing up in Kolkata; the city’s real-world vulnerability to climate disasters inspired her.

  "It was a place of sorrow. And from that place of sorrow, I started thinking about, well, what are love and hope... going to look like in that kind of catastrophe." —Megha Majumdar (02:32)

Hope, Migration, and Moral Complexity (03:00 – 05:43)

• Crisis-driven Choices:
  The family’s chance to escape Kolkata is jeopardized when a thief steals their last resources.
• Individual versus Collective Hope:
  Majumdar interrogates the tension between private hope (for one’s family) and public hope (for community).

  "What if hope gains manifestations which are vicious and mean and sly?" —Megha Majumdar (03:29)

• Blurred Morality:
  Both “Ma” and the thief Boomba operate from love and desperation, challenging conventional hero/villain archetypes.

The Ferocity of Parental Love (04:33 – 05:54)

• Motherhood’s Impact:
  Majumdar’s experience as a new mother reshaped the novel, inspiring exploration into just how far love will push someone under strain.

  "What do you do with that kind of encompassing, impossible kind of love? And what do you do when there is great pressure put on that love?" —Megha Majumdar (04:52)

• Morality Under Pressure:
  The story asks how much a parent might risk their own moral center to protect a child.

Crisis and the True Self (06:13 – 07:05)

• Changing or Revealing Morality:
  The novel ponders if catastrophe changes us or simply uncovers who we really are.

  "Are we our true selves right now... or will we be our true selves... in a situation of crisis and scarcity and catastrophe?" —Megha Majumdar (06:31)

Fiction’s Role and Everyday Choices (07:11 – 07:52)

• Why Write Moral Complexity:
  Majumdar values fiction’s power to investigate human contradictions and everyday moral calculations.

  "Fiction leads us to the truth. I am very interested in the complexity of human beings, how we can contain so many contradictions..." —Megha Majumdar (07:15)

Who Is Guardian, Who Is Thief? (07:52 – 08:30)

• Duality in All of Us:
  The book avoids clear judgments—"guardian" and "thief" are roles we all embody at times.

  "We each contain a guardian and a thief. We each contain elements which are loving and hopeful... and elements which might be vicious and sly and selfish." —Megha Majumdar (08:10)

Kolkata as Character (08:30 – 09:46)

• A City’s Resilience:
  Despite the bleak setting, the novel celebrates Kolkata’s humor, art, resourcefulness, and humanity.

  "I wanted to write about the art on the streets, the way in which the people chat with each other, rely on each other... all of those things make Kolkata an incredibly joyous and special place..." —Megha Majumdar (09:09)

Hope Amid Despair (09:46 – 10:41)

• An Invitation to Reflection:
  Majumdar wants readers to feel their time is well spent with the book and to grapple with its central moral question:

  "What do you do when your love for your children threatens to obliterate your moral self?" —Megha Majumdar (10:21)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On hope’s complexity:

  "What if our hope for our children, our family, clashes with the hope of the collective, the hope of the neighborhood and the city?" —Megha Majumdar (03:37)

• On parenthood and love:

  "That experience of new motherhood changed everything about this book for me." —Megha Majumdar (04:35)

• On morality in crisis:

  "Most of us believe we are good and decent people... but what happens when our love tests that belief?" —Megha Majumdar (05:57)

• On resilience of place:

  "I wanted to bring that lightness and that radiance into the book." —Megha Majumdar (09:41)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------|-----------------| | Introduction | 00:02 – 01:16 | | Setting & Spark | 01:16 – 03:00 | | Hope & Morality | 03:00 – 05:43 | | Motherhood’s Impact | 04:33 – 05:54 | | True Self & Crisis | 06:13 – 07:05 | | Fiction’s Power | 07:11 – 07:52 | | Guardian/Thief Duality | 07:52 – 08:30 | | Kolkata as Character | 08:30 – 09:46 | | Hope Amid Despair | 09:46 – 10:41 |

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Final Thoughts

In this episode, Megha Majumdar offers an intimate look at A Guardian and a Thief—a profoundly human, morally complex novel rooted in a plausible, near-future Kolkata. Grounded in her personal experience and literary insight, Majumdar probes the dark, fanged edge of love and hope, asking: What are we capable of when our most precious bonds are tested by crisis?

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Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Megha Majumdar's new book, A Guardian and a Thief, is about hope and love, but not in a squishy Pollyanna Hallmark card sort of way. Actually, the opposite. She's thinking about the scary, dark, sometimes violent actions that hope and love can drive people to take because she's not interested in moralizing. She's interested in the complex in the human. In this interview with Here Now's Jane Clason, Majumdar goes into how her experiences with deep love led her to thinking about its darker sides. That's coming up.

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[Jane Clason]

The new novel A Guardian and a Thief is set in Kolkata, India. In the not so far off future. There is famine and floods and families resorting to desperate measures in order to survive. One family of three, Ma, her elderly father and her two year old daughter have a chance to escape, but a theft puts that chance in jeopardy. The book weaves together Ma's story with the story of their burglar. A Guardian and a Thief is a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. It's also this month's Oprah Book Club selection. And author Meika Majumdar joins us from npr, New York. Welcome and congratulations.

[Megha Majumdar]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Jane Clason]

It's wonderful to have you. Well, this novel is set in a near future version of Calcutta, your actual hometown, which has been devastated by climate change. What was the original spark for this story? Why this world and why now?

[Megha Majumdar]

As you said, I am from Kolkata. I spent the first 19 years of my life there. And it is one of the cities in the world which is most severely affected by climate change. It has grown hotter. It is predicted to endure more storms. And reading about that was heartbreaking. Imagine reading that kind of dire prediction about your own hometown. It was a place of sorrow. And from that place of sorrow, I started thinking about, well, what are love and hope and connection with your family and connection with your community going to look like in that kind of Catastrophe.

[Jane Clason]

The novel opens with this break in that changes everything for this family. Your central character, Ma, is days away from leaving India with her daughter to join her husband when this thief named Boomba steals their food and their immigration papers. What did you want to explore about hope, about migration in this story?

[Megha Majumdar]

One very interesting thing about hope for me is that we often assume that it is this noble, unassuming, salable thing. But in a situation of scarcity and crisis, what if hope gains manifestations which are vicious and mean and sly? What if our hope for our children, our family, clashes with the hope of the collective, the hope of the neighborhood and the city? Who will we become when we try to navigate the that gap between who we want to be and who we truly are?

[Jane Clason]

Well, that's so interesting because the book doesn't have heroes or villains in a traditional sense. Right? Boomba the thief, is acting out of love for his family. Even Ma, who works in a shelter, is stealing food and money from her work in order to survive. There's a line in the book where you say love can become fanged in times of distress. What does that mean to you?

[Megha Majumdar]

I had my older child early in the writing of this book. And that experience of new motherhood changed everything about this book for me. For a while, I had been really struggling and failing to write a different kind of plot set in the same world of a near future India with the same moral dilemmas. But the plot really wasn't working. And then after I had my first son, I grew so interested in the ferocity of a mother's love. What do you do with that kind of encompassing, impossible kind of love? And what do you do when there is great pressure put on that love? I think all of us who are parents understand what I mean by that love. But imagine that love tested. Imagine that love in a time of devastation. What would it push you to do? And who would you be in terms of retaining your moral center?

[Jane Clason]

Yes, and what I loved about this story is that no one is purely right or wrong. Everyone is trying to protect someone that they love.

[Megha Majumdar]

Absolutely. Most of us believe we are good and decent people acting in ways that are aligned with our faith in ourselves, our faith in our essential goodness. But what happens when our love tests that belief?

[Jane Clason]

And as I was reading, I wondered if you think crisis changes our morality or simply exposes it.

[Megha Majumdar]

That's a fantastic question. It's a question that I wrestled with during the writing of this book and continue to wrestle with as a person I think that there is no way of really knowing where our true self resides. Are we our true selves right now, in our fairly comfortable lives, as we are going about our daily work, preparing meals, caring for our families? Or will we be our true selves? Or when we are in a situation of crisis and scarcity and catastrophe?

[Jane Clason]

What drew you to write a story where morality is so complicated?

[Megha Majumdar]

The thing about fiction that I love is that through these completely made up scenarios, fiction leads us to the truth. I am very interested in the complexity of human beings, how we can contain so many contradictions, and how, especially now, as we live under systems that do not serve most of us, we are forced to make moral choices on a smaller scale every day. And our self is composed of the sum of those choices. And I'm very interested in the choices that we make in.

[Jane Clason]

And all those contradictions in real life and in the book leave the reader to wonder who really is a guardian, who really is a thief.

[Megha Majumdar]

You're right. I wonder if part of what the book might encourage a reader to consider is that we each contain a guardian and a thief. We each contain elements which are loving and hopeful and generous and kind, and elements which might be vicious and sly and selfish.

[Jane Clason]

Calcutta feels like a character in this novel, scarred by heat, flooding, hunger, but still very much alive. How did your own memories of growing up and your connection to the city shape the story that you tell?

[Megha Majumdar]

My memories of growing up in Kolkata are absolutely elemental to this book. One thing that I wanted to write about, even though the book is so much about an imagined future catastrophe, I wanted to bring into the book how resilient and loving and humorous the people of Kolkata are. I wanted to write about the art on the streets, the way in which the people chat with each other, rely on each other, the way in which even thin connections with acquaintances become real relationships when you need help, and how people are not afraid to ask for help. I think all of those things make Kolkata an incredibly joyous and special place to grow up in. And I wanted to bring that lightness and that radiance into the book.

[Jane Clason]

And there is also so much despair in this book. And as we said, it's set in the near future and there is something so bleakly plausible about it. Is there possibility of hope? And what do you want reality to take away from the book?

[Megha Majumdar]

First of all, I hope readers feel invited into the book. There are so many good books to read. I care very much about the claim that a book makes on a reader's time, and I hope they feel that their time is rewarded. And at the end of the book, I hope that a reader is left thinking about the central question that drove me as I was writing the book, which is, what do you do when your love for your children threatens to obliterate your moral self?

[Jane Clason]

Meka Majumdar her novel is a guardian and a Thief. Meka, thank you very much.

[Megha Majumdar]

Thank you so much. What a special occasion to be here.

[Andrew Limbong]

And just a reminder that signing up for book of the day plus is a great way to support NPR's book coverage and public media. And you'll get to listen to every episode sponsor free. So please go find out [e-mail] bookoftheday.

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