Set in contemporary Bombay and other cities, these stories reflect the kaleidoscope of urban life - evoking the colour, sounds and white-hot heat of the city. Warm, perceptive, humorous and touched with sadness, Anita Desai's stories are peopled with intensely individual characters - the man spiritually transformed by the surface texture of a melon; the American wife who, homesick for the verdant farmlands of Vermont, turns to the hippies in the Indian hills; the painter living in a slum who fills his canvasses with flowers, birds and landscapes he has never seen.

'Beautifully accomplished and memorable' The Times

About the Author
Anita Desai was born and educated in India. Her published works include many award-winning short story collections and novels, three of which have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, most recently Fasting, Feasting. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and lives in New York State.

Reviews
As finely written atmospheric pieces alone the stories would be memorable... As social documents they are absorbing. The volume's profound theme is the tension between convention and exploration, family solidarity and individualism... An admirable humane and responsible achievement -- Hermione Lee * Observer *
One of the most brilliant and subtle writers ever to have described the meeting of eastern and western culture * Alison Lurie *
Beautifully accomplished and memorable * The Times *
Absolutely first-rate...absorbing -- Hermione Lee * Observer *
Desai has a gift of opening up a closed world and making it clearly visible * Sunday Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9780099428534
Author Anita Desai
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Vintage
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 106g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 8mm