A Backward Place - Hardcover

Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719537274 ISBN 13: 9780719537271

Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd, 1965

Synopsis

Six colourful, comic characters inhabit A Backward Place. All but one are Westerners who have come to Delhi to experience an alternative way of life. But, far from being hippies, their ability to adapt to this exotic culture often leaves something to be desired. Etta, an aristocratic, faded beauty maintains her Parisian chic while Clarissa talks enthusiastically about the simple life but stops short of ever roughing it herself. On the other hand Bal, the one Indian protagonist, holds quite Western aspirations to Hollywood glamour.

A Backward Place humorously explores contradictions in attitudes and lifestyles and the interplay between culture and individuality. But it is also a Dickensian drama, charting the highs and lows of everyday life against the enchanting backdrop of a bustling Indian city.

About this title

Review

Deliciously comic (Daily Telegraph)

Her tussle with India is one of the richest treats of contemporary literature (Guardian)

An Indian Dickens (New Statesman)

A writer of genius ... a writer of world class - a master storyteller (Sunday Times)

Book Description

Another reissue from the booker-prize winning author. This Indian Vanity Fari brings astonishingly to life, the small tragedies and triumphs of daily life.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 1965
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0719537274
• ISBN 13: 9780719537271
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256