This paper examines the literary representation of labour migration from Nepal to the Gulf countries in Greta Rana’s novel Hostage: Inspired by the True Story of Nepali Migrants (2018). Set against the backdrop of the Maoist Insurgency, the novel reveals the layers of precarity and vulnerability faced by Nepali workers through the fateful journey of the protagonist Hari Prasad Mahato. The paper examines how economic hardship, political instability, social marginalisation, and limited opportunities at home push workers to seek employment abroad through exploitative migration networks. It further highlights the cyclical nature of precarity and the structural factors that make migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and erasure. The paper situates Rana’s Hostage within empirical scholarship on Nepali migration and Global South precarity theory and argues that by placing Hari Prasad’s story within wider socio-political and economic frameworks, Rana’s novel offers a literary lens into the complex realities of labour migration from Nepal, a process shaped by systemic inequality, state neglect, and economic desperation. By centring migrant narratives, the paper demonstrates how literature reveals systemic injustices and opens up inquiry into labour exploitation across other Global South contexts. 

Keywords:Nepal; Gulf; labour migration; precarity; vulnerability

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