The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

The novel weaves together the stories of people navigating some of the darkest and most violent episodes of modern Indian history, from land reform that dispossessed poor farmers to the 2002 Godhra train burning and Kashmir insurgency.[3] Roy's characters run the gamut of Indian society and include an intersex woman (hijra), a rebellious architect, and her landlord who is a supervisor in the intelligence service.[4] The narrative spans across decades and locations, but primarily takes place in Delhi and Kashmir.[5]

• Anjum is a major character of the book who is Muslim and a hijra. On her visit to a Gujarati shrine, Anjum gets caught in a massacre of Hindu pilgrims and subsequent government reprisals against Muslims. She is anxious about the future of her own community, especially the new generation.[6][7]She is born as Aftab, the long-awaited son of Jahanara Begum and Mulaqat Ali.
• Mulaqat Ali is the husband of Jahanara Begum and the father of Aftab. He is a hakim, a doctor of herbal medicine, and a lover of poetry. Ali is the direct descendant of Mongol Emperor Changez Khan – through the emperor's second-born son, Chagatai.
• Zainab is a three-year-old girl whom Anjum picks up on the steps of the Jama Masjid. Zainab is brought up at Khwabgah and later goes on to become a fashion designer who marries Saddam.
• Saddam Hussain (Dayachand) is one of the guests of Jannat Guest House. Saddam works odd jobs – in a mortuary, as a helper in a shop, a bus conductor, sells newspapers at the New Delhi railway station, a bricklayer on a construction site and as a security guard. Saddam wants to avenge his father's death by killing Sehrawat, the Station House Officer of the Dulina police station.
• Dr. Azad Bharatiya is one of the very many protestors near Jantar Mantar. He continues his 10-year fast and runs a newsletter called "News & Views".
• S. Tilottama is a student at the Architecture School who is estranged from her Syrian Christian mother – Mariyam Ipe. Tilo becomes friends with three men – Musa Yewsi, Nagaraj Hariharan and Biplab Dasgupta whom she meets while working on sets and lighting design for the play Norman, Is That You? directed by David Quartermaine.
• Nagaraj Hariharan is casted as Norman in the play. He later becomes a top-notch journalist who works in Kashmir. Tilo marries Naga as suggested by Musa for strategic reasons and later abandons him.
• Biplab Dasgupta was to play the role of Garson Hobart in the play Norman, Is That You?. He later works for the Intelligence Bureau as Deputy Station Head for. Biplab secretly loves Tilo and rents her room after she walks out on Naga.
• Musa Yeswi (Commander Gulrez) is a reticent Kashmiri man who is classmates with Tilo in Architecture School and her boyfriend. Musa later returns to his homeland to become a militant and fight for Azadi. Musa marries Arifa and fathers Miss Jebeen the First.
• Begum Arifa Yeswi is the wife of Musa Yeswi. Musa meets Arifa in a stationery shop where a grenade explosion takes place.
• Major Amrik Singh is a military officer in charge of counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir. Murderer of Jalib Qadri, a well-known lawyer and human rights activist. Amrik Singh, subsequently seeks asylum in the US claiming to be the victim of the tortures he has inflicted on others.
• Comrade Revathy is a Maoist from East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh who is raped and tortured by policeman. She's the mother of Udaya (Miss Jebeen the Second). Revathy leaves Udaya in Jantar Mantar.

• 2017 The Hindu Literary Prize shortlist[8]
• 2017 Man Booker Prize longlist[9]
• 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist[10]

• "Full Extended Interview: Arundhati Roy on Democracy Now!". Retrieved August 30, 2017.