The Unbroken Coast

by Nalini Jones

A stunning debut novel set in and around a Mumbai fishing village that follows the friendship between a young girl struggling to find her place in the world, and an aging historian reckoning with his past.

​On the night his granddaughter is born in America, Professor Francis Almeida rides a bicycle through his quiet Catholic neighborhood in a suburb of Mumbai. It is 1978. He has recently retired, his grown children are scattered across the globe, and for the first time in decades, he is not sure what he should do next. A few streets from his home, in the heart of a Koli fishing village, he encounters a young mother praying for her baby daughter, ill with dengue fever, at the shrine of Our Lady of Navigators. He hopes the child will live.

Nearly a decade later, Francis meets the child again. She is Celia, daughter of a fisherman who is running from a debt collector. When an accident brings their families together, both Celia and Francis find themselves with unexpected new allies.

Spanning the turbulent years when Bombay became Mumbai, at time when environmental and economic pressures are just beginning to change the fortunes of indigenous fisherfolk, The Unbroken Coast is a lyrical novel that explores memory, faith, storytelling, and the nature of home.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, India

481 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 12, 2025

Reviews

[Dana K · Rating 3 out of 5]

{3.5 stars}

Thanks to Knopf for the gifted copy. All opinions below are my own.

This is the story of a retired professor and a young girl as their lives intersect in a small fishing village outside of Mumbai. We get an early scene of the Portuguese settling the town in the 1600's and bringing Catholicism but the bulk of the story takes place through the 1980's and 90's.

This was a quiet story filled with small moments of life which give you the perspective of a time and place. It deals with the burdens of life, poverty, classism, religion and the stigma of AIDS. I really loved Celia as a character but a lot of what happens in her life is really heartbreaking, I think you need to be ok with a story that is mostly depressing. There is an undercurrent of found family and finding where you belong despite the heaviness of life but it is a small light in the darkness.

[Tommi Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

a huge thanks to the publisher for this advance copy! Will post a review later

*It's later!

Nalini Jones’s debut novel, The Unbroken Coast (Knopf – expected 8/12/2025), is a story of intertwined lives, found families, regrets, and triumphs. Set in and around a Mumbai fishing village, the novel follows a prominent retired professor who is struggling with his memories, and a young Koli girl from the fishing village whose family is struggling to stay one step ahead of the debt collector.

Professor Francis Almeida, even retired, is a historian, and he finds scholarly projects that highlight the history of the place he calls home. His work results in the fancy hotel being built, and he’s rewarded for his efforts by his glass never being empty when he visits the hotel lounge. He’s a man marked by loss – a daughter died in his arms not long after birth. He’d also lost his fiancée, a girl who loved pink and breathed life and laughter wherever she went. And he’d lost that girl’s sister – the big “what if” of his life. He fills his days with research and alcohol and riding his bike to keep his memories at bay.

He met Celia when she was a baby, but neither know of their first encounter. It is their second, ten years later, when he runs into her on his bike and she breaks her arm that forever seals their conjoined fates.

Celia is the daughter of a fisherman, and her mother sells fish at the market, like the other Koli women of the village. Her younger sister has a “delicate deposition,” and Celia is at time a glass child, overlooked and boxed in for the benefit of Evangeline. Or so she thinks. She doesn’t know about the dengue fever and the shrine of Our Lady of Navigators. She butts heads with her mother frequently, each knowing how to quickly wound the other.

At the request of Essie, Francis’s wife, Celia, begins to come to the home regularly. Her mother becomes their fisherwoman, and the Almeidas give the family hand-me-down clothes and shoes from their American grandchildren that were left behind during visits.

Years pass. Celia grows up, gets married. Francis’s memory problems become more apparent. The two continue to fade in and out of each other’s lives.

Spanning 1978 – 2005, The Unbroken Coast gathers up a bit of Mumbai history, including the 1993 bombings, Christian and Muslim relations, the struggles of Koli families who rely on fishing, and the rise of AIDS, and fries it all with onions in a sizzling pan.

It’s a solid debut.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this moving story of two families, set against a changing India.

There is the aging history Professor Almeida and his family, his mind and heart living in the past. And Celia, a fisherman’s daughter who runs in front of him while he was riding his bike.

The professor’s wife takes an interest in Celia, giving her her daughter’s cast of clothing, purchasing fish from her family. But trawlers and pollution are driving the small fishermen out of work and her parents forge new careers.

Over the decades, their families remain intertwined. Celia grows up and marries, leading to both loss and growth. The professor ages, living in the past, losing touch with reality. And the professor’s wife continues to aid Celia through her troubles.

Outside, darkness settled. The city redrew itself with different colors and outlines, different bits hidden. Roads coursed like rivers, orange in one direction, white in another, and the sky was paved with billboards. Lit windows rendered skyscrapers in mosaic. On the main roads of Santa Clara, shops looked fresh and vivid, roused from their afternoon torpor. People flowed through huge arched doors of the churches, leaving shoes heaped on the steps outside. from The Unbroken Coast

The writing is stunning, with beautiful, vivid, descriptions and deep character insight. I connected with these characters. And, in the end, I found my heart deeply touched, aware of the beauty and joy of life, hopeful, and wanting to read the book all over again.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

[Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader 2.0 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This engrossing novel is set in the 1980s to the early 2000s, at the time when Bombay was becoming Mumbai. It's set in a Christian enclave, which includes poorer people who make a living fishing, and middle class educators, lawyers and businesspeople. People have Portuguese names and are very involved in their Catholic churches.

Nalini Jones Focuses on Celia, the daughter of a fishing family and a father who is on the run from debt collectors, and Francis Almeida, a retired professor who zips around the neighborhood on his trusty bike. The two literally collide--little Celia runs into his bicycle or he runs into her; each has a version. The money given to Celia's mother in recompense will put their lives on an upward path, and the Almeidas will enjoy the freshest fish and friendship from the D'Mellos.

The Unbroken Coast is SO good. First of all, it's an unusual setting, and secondly, you will become completely involved with the characters and want to know more of their stories. I doubt there will be a sequel because Jones closes the circle of her novel with power and grace. This is Nalini Jones' first work of fiction and I hope it is not her last. The Unbroken Coast is completely immersive and completely satisfying. Many thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Jen G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks NetGalley and publishers for e-ARC in exchange for honest review.

My honest review: I struggled with this debut novel. It was quite well written, but I did not enjoy reading it. It started very strong, but the historical fiction component only occurred at the outset and then disappeared a few chapters in. I stopped reading every page after 10% and skimmed the rest.

It was very long and I did not feel much connection to either of the main characters; I think this was because it was written in the third person, so I could not really get inside their heads. Celia had such a hard life but I couldn’t see it from her perspective so I felt like I was just supposed to pity her, rather than see her as a full person. I would therefore say it fits in the misery lit genre.

I did appreciate learning about the history and cultures of Bombay/Mumbai.

Because I did not read every page carefully, I may be being overly harsh, but I’m glad I didn’t because I think it would have been too painful for me at the moment.

Readers should emotionally prepare themselves; this is a very difficult read.

[Preeti Mahatme · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful debut novel based around an aging history professor Francis Almeida and Celia D Souza the daughter of a poor fisherman and their families. The novel spans several decades from the 1970s to the 2000's as Celia and Francis' lives entwine. I loved how the author lucidly details the mundane everyday lives of Celia's fisherfolk community as also the middle class existence of Francis Almeida and his family as the city around them transforms and grows and changes its name from Mumbai to Bombay as also its landscape from squat houses to high rises. The pacing is slow but there is never a dull moment - it is a story to be savoured slowly like sipping a hot cup of tea or chai as you call it in Mumbai. The latter part of the story goes on to deal with the AIDS epidemic and the travails of early patients. Totally recommend for anybody who loves Mumbai, multi-generational family drama and just good clean stories.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Publishing Group for the ARC

[J R · Rating 4 out of 5]

engrossing, solid, and generally quite effective work over a fairly long time about the entwined lives of people. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.