An Atlas of Impossible Longing. - Hardcover

Black, Benjamin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0330457713 ISBN 13: 9780330457712

Publisher: Picador, 2007

Synopsis

"This is why we read fiction at all" raves the Washington Post Family life meets historical romance in this critically acclaimed, "gorgeous, sweeping novel" (Ms Magazine) about two people who find each other when abandoned by everyone else, marking the signal American debut of an award-winning writer who richly deserves her international acclaim.

On the outskirts of a small town in Bengal, a family lives in solitude in their vast new house. Here, lives intertwine and unravel. A widower struggles with his love for an unmarried cousin. Bakul, a motherless daughter, runs wild with Mukunda, an orphan of unknown caste adopted by the family. Confined in a room at the top of the house, a matriarch goes slowly mad; her husband searches for its cause as he shapes and reshapes his garden. As Mukunda and Bakul grow, their intense closeness matures into something else, and Mukunda is banished to Calcutta. He prospers in the turbulent years after Partition, but his thoughts stay with his home, with Bakul, with all that he has lost--and he knows that he must return.

About this title

Review:

"A story to lose yourself in ... Anuradha Roy is a wonderful writer ... this tale of three generations of an Indian family, set over the span of the 20th century, is brilliantly told [and] intensely moving." — "Sunday Express"

"A lyrical love letter to India’s past...Poetic and evocative. Roy’s writing is a joy." — "Financial Times"

"A story to lose yourself in ... Anuradha Roy is a wonderful writer ... this tale of three generations of an Indian family, set over the span of the 20th century, is brilliantly told [and] intensely moving." -- "Sunday Express"

"""In" An Atlas of Impossible Longing, "Anuradha Roy""bravely explores love, the caste system, and familial lines in a vivid portrait of war-stricken twentieth-century India. This absorbing story defies prediction. Roy's grace and mesmerizing language stayed with me long after I closed the book." --Katie Crouch, author of "Girls in Trucks"

"A lyrical love letter to India's past...Poetic and evocative. Roy's writing is a joy." -- "Financial Times"

"Epic. . . . [a] gorgeous, sweeping novel." --"Ms Magazine"

Praise for "An Atlas of Impossible Longing: "

International Praise for "The Folded Earth "by Anuradha Roy: ""

""The Folded Earth"is pure pleasure, that old fashioned sort of novel in which one can immerse oneself; an absolute treat." "Business World"

"A jewel of a story." "The Deccan Herald"

From the Back Cover:

"He scrutinised my palm for long minutes, and I looked with him, as if I had never seen it before. It was creased, untidy, crowded with crosses and wild strokes slashing it in two. I have seen palms that have scarcely any lines. Mine was not one of them, far from it. I waited as if for a verdict.
`A veritable atlas,' he said, his fingers tracing the longer lines on my palm. `What rivers of desire, what mountains of ambition!'
`I wanted to... I mean I was hoping...'
`Want, want, hope, hope,' the astrologer parroted, `this is what your palm says too, moshai, your palm is nothing but an atlas of impossible longings.' He poked my lifeline and said, `Nothing but longing.'"
This is a love story - as passionate as it is poignant - about two people who find each other when abandoned by everyone else.

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0330457713
• ISBN 13: 9780330457712
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304