From the Man Booker Prize-nominated author of Sleeping on Jupiter and âone of Indiaâs greatest living authorsâ (O, The Oprah Magazine), a poignant and sweeping novel set in India during World War II and the present day about a sonâs quest to uncover the truth about his mother.
In my childhood, I was known as the boy whose mother had run off with an Englishman. The man was in fact German, but in smallâtown India in those days, all white foreigners were largely thought of as British.
So begins the âgracefully wroughtâ (Kirkus Reviews) story of Myshkin and his mother, Gayatri, who rebels against tradition to follow her artistâs instinct for freedom.
Freedom of a different kind is in the air across India. The fight against British rule is reaching a critical turn. The Nazis have come to power in Germany. At this point of crisis, two strangers arrive in Gayatriâs town, opening up to her the vision of other possible lives.
What took Myshkinâs mother from India and Dutch-held Bali in the 1930s, ripping a knife through his comfortingly familiar universe? Excavating the roots of the world in which he was abandoned, Myshkin comes to understand the connections between the anguish at home and a warâtorn universe overtaken by patriotism.
Evocative and moving, âthis mesmerizing exploration of the darker consequences of freedom, love, and loyalty is an astonishing display of Royâs literary prowessâ (Publishers Weekly).