Family Matters - Hardcover

Mistry, Rohinton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571194273 ISBN 13: 9780571194278

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 2002

Synopsis

Family Matters takes us to Bombay in the mid-1990s. Nariman Vakeel is a seventy-nine-year-old Parsi widower and the patriarch of a small discordant family. Beset by Parkinson s disease and haunted by memories of the past, he lives in a once-elegant apartment with his two middle-aged stepchildren - Coomy, bitter and domineering, and her brother, Jal, mild-mannered and acquiescent. When Nariman s illness is compounded by a broken ankle, Coomy plots to turn his round-the-clock care over to Roxana, his sweet-tempered sister. She succeeds, but not without cost, and eventually Nariman takes up residence with Roxana, her husband, Yezad, and their two young sons. The effect of the new responsibility on Yezad, who is already besieged by financial worries, pushes him into a scheme of deception involving Vikram Kapur, his eccentric, often exasperating employer at Bombay Sporting Goods Emporium. This sets in motion a series of events - a great unravelling and a revelation of the family s love-torn past - that leads to the narrative s final outcome. In this wise and compassionate novel, Mistry has once again created a beautifully realized world. As his unforgettable characters confront situations over which they have no control, their tragedies and their triumphs ultimately become our own. Family Matters has all the richness, the gentle humour, and the narrative sweep that have earned Rohinton Mistry the highest of accolades around the world. It is a stunning achievement from one of the finest writers of our time.

About this title

About the Author

Rohinton Mistry was born in 1952 and grew up in Bombay, India, where he also attended university. In 1975 he emigrated to Canada, where he began a course in English and Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is the author of three novels and one collection of short stories. His debut novel, Such a Long Journey (1991), won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book and the Governor General's Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was made into an acclaimed feature film in 1998. His second novel, A Fine Balance (1995), won many prestigious awards, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and the Giller Prize, as well as being shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. His collection of short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag, was published in 1987. In 2002 Faber published Mistry's third novel, Family Matters, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize as well as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize for Fiction and the Canadian Authors' Association Award. In translation, his work has been published in twenty-nine languages. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2010.

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571194273
• ISBN 13: 9780571194278
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496