''The Collaborator'' is the 2011

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

Mirza Waheed Mirza Waheed is a novelist who was born and raised in Srinagar but now lives in London. Writing career Mirza has written for the BBC, The Guardian, Granta, Guernica (magazine), Al Jazeera English and The New York Times. His first novel, '' ...

. The novel is set on the Indian side of the

Line of Control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serve ...

that separates

Indian Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

from Pakistani Kashmir. The first-person narrator is a young man who ends up working for the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

, counting the number of dead militants, killed in encounters, with the Indian army.

Reception

The book ''The Collaborator'' was featured in 2011 "Books of the Year" in ''The Telegraph'', ''New Statesman'', ''Business Standard'' and ''Telegraph India''. It was also 2011

Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspap ...

finalist and shortlisted for the 2011 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize.

References

Novels set in India Kashmir conflict in fiction 2011 debut novels 2011 Indian novels Indian English-language novels Indian political novels Indian mystery novels Penguin Books India books {{2010s-novel-stub