A BEAUTIFUL TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING MASTERPIECE WITH A NEW PREFACE FROM THE AUTHOR

‘A magnificent novel of humane breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and political acuteness’ Hermione Lee, chair of the Booker Prize judges

High in the Himalayas sits a dilapidated mansion, home to three people, each dreaming of another time.

The judge, broken by a world too messy for justice, is haunted by his past. His orphaned granddaughter has fallen in love with her handsome tutor, despite their different backgrounds and ideals. The cook’s heart is with his son, who is working in a New York restaurant, mingling with an underclass from all over the globe as he seeks somewhere to call home.

Around the house swirl the forces of revolution and change. Civil unrest is making itself felt, stirring up inner conflicts as powerful as those dividing the community, pitting the past against the present, nationalism against love, a small place against the troubles of a big world.

‘Poised, elegant and assured . . . breaks out into extraordinary beauty’ The Times

‘Affecting and endearing, full of laughter and tears’ Boyd Tonkin, Independent

‘Briskly paced and sumptuously written . . . ponders questions of nationhood, modernity, and class, in ways both moving and revelatory’ New Yorker

"Marvellous . . . Kiran Desai romanticises neither home nor elsewhere . . . Heeds not only the brave new world, but also the country left behind" - Financial Times

"Affecting and endearing, full of laughter and tears" - Independent

"Seldom has an author offered so fearless a glimpse into how ordinary lives are caught up in the collision of modernity and cultural tradition, and in the schisms and fanaticism that all too often ensue" - Elle

"If book reviews just cut to the chase, this one would simply read: This is a terrific novel! Read it!" - Boston Globe

"Always pulsing with energy" - Guardian