Author: Dominique Lapierre
Publisher: Arrow
Year: 1986
Language: English
Pages: 532
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0099140918
Description
A reprint of number 1 International Bestseller, City of Joy is a testament to the human spirit unbowed by the most wretched of circumstances.
This book is based on three years of extensive research in Calcutta and various areas of Bengal. The author was given access to personal diaries and correspondence, and the bulk of his research consisted of over two hundred lengthy interviews, conducted through interpreters in various languages including Hindi, Bengali and Urdu.
This story concerns men, women and children who have been uprooted from their homes by implacable nature and hostile circumstances, and thrown into a city whose capacity for hospitality has been pushed beyond imagining. This is a story about how people learn, despite incredibly difficult odds, to survive, to share and to love.
In his introduction, the author says: During frequent stays in Calcutta I was fortunate enough to meet some exceptional human beings. They have given me so much, and have had such an impact on my life, that I decided I wanted to tell a story about their lives, in a remarkable area of the world called the City of Joy.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:
The City of Joy will make any one a little richer for having read it. - - Washington Post
This book is imprinted on my mind forever. - - New York Times
Let's not hesitate to shout it: this book is a masterpiece. - - Le Monde