Author: Timeri N Murari
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 654
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0144001500
Description
The year is 1950. In a sprawling mansion on a vast estate hidden in the heart of Madras lives eight-year-old Krishna, the youngest member of the proud and powerful Naidu family. Surrounded by siblings and cousins, and aunts and uncles who squabble amiably under the benevolent rule of his grandparents, Krishna’s life is quite the ideal one.
But Krishna’s father has always been different-aloof from the close-knit family, fatally seduced by his years at Oxford and continually dreaming of his beloved England. And when he brings an Englishwoman, Victoria Greene, into his children’s lives, first as their governess and then as their stepmother, staking a claim on their inheritance, Krishna watches in horror as his perfect world shatters around him. Can the Naidu children withstand the force of such betrayal, or will they succumb to the avaricious schemes of an outsider obsessed with the fulfilment of her own selfish desires?
REVIEWS
Enjoy the self-confident sweep of the story.
-The Economist
Timeri is a word painter who creates the atmosphere vividly, with minimum strokes of his pen.
-Hindu
A moving coming of age novel which explores the impact of an outsider on an enclosed Indian family. A beautiful allegory on the colonial impact on India.
-Guardian
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TIMERI N MURARI began his career as a journalist and has written novels, non-fiction, as well as screenplays and stage plays. His film, The Square Circle, made Time magazine’s top ten best films. He later adapted it for the stage and directed it at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. His novels include the international best-seller Taj: A Story of Mughal India (reissued by Penguin India in 2003) and The Arrangements of Love. His most recent non-fiction book is My Temporary Son: An Orphan’s Journey. Timeri Murari lives in Madras. Visit the author at www.timerimurari.com.