She Will Build Him a City - Hardcover

Jha, Raj Kamal

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1620409046 ISBN 13: 9781620409046

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2015

Synopsis

As night falls in Delhi, a mother spins tales from her past for her sleeping daughter. Now grown up, her child is a puzzle with a million pieces, whom she hopes, through her words and her love, to somehow make whole again.

Meanwhile, a young man rides the last train from Rajiv Chowk Station and dreams of murder.

In another corner of the city, a newborn wrapped in a blood-red towel lies on the steps of an orphanage as his mother walks away.

There are twenty million bodies in this city, but the stories of this woman, man, and child--of a secret love that blossoms in the shadows of grief, of a corrosive guilt that taints the soul, and of a boy who maps his own destiny--weave in and out of the lives of those around them to form a dazzling kaleidoscope of a novel.

Beautiful, beguiling, and audacious, this is the story of a city and its people, of love and horror, of belonging and forgiveness: a powerful and unforgettable tale of modern India.

About this title

About the Author:

Raj Kamal Jha is Chief Editor of The Indian Express, which has won the International Press Institute's Award for Excellence in Journalism three times. His novels include The Blue Bedspread, winner of the 2000 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Eurasia) and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; If You Are Afraid of Heights, a finalist for the Hutch-Crossword Book Award in 2003; and Fireproof. He works in New Delhi and lives in Gurgaon.

Review:

“Don't let the lucid, lyrical grace of the prose fool you--this is a blistering, enthralling, bareknuckle ride of a novel. Its revelations about the 'New India' are explosive.” ―Neel Mukherjee, author of THE LIVES OF OTHERS

“Violence, tenderness, poverty, mobility: in short, a portrait of the New India.” ―Jeet Thayil, author of NARCOPOLIS

“The best novel from and about India that I have read in a long time.” ―Pankaj Mishra, author of FROM THE RUINS OF EMPIRE

“A study in contrasts, this novel uses magic to illuminate poverty, violence and loss . . . gorgeous language . . . This novel is populated by storytellers. One by one, they tell us that nothing, even magic (a 12-foot woman who mothers mothers or a dog who transports an orphan to safety), can erase the ugly highs and lows of life in modern India.” ―Kirkus Reviews

“In vast Delhi, India, the intertwining lives of millions shine through the intrepid lens of She Will Build Him a City . . . This novel thrills and mystifies as the characters fumble about Delhi toward an elusive sense of belonging. Jha's prose is wondrous . . . She Will Build Him a City exhibits myth-making of an impeccable order.” ―Shelf Awareness

“A spare, mysterious tale of erotic violence and illicit love that stays in the mind long after the last page has been turned . . . Mr. Jha exhibits a remarkable honesty as a writer, and he is in impressive command of a technique that creates a powerful psychological realism out of a new phantasmagoric collage . . . The Blue Bedspread is a brilliant beginning for a writer whose voice already shows a maturity well beyond his years.” ―Richard Bernstein, The New York Times

“Jha's highly original novel shimmers with the curious pleasure of stories that slowly emerge from the half-light of memory and grief.” ―Time Out New York on THE BLUE BEDSPREAD

“Jha combines the energy of a Salman Rushdie with the precise lyricism of an Amit Chaudhuri . . . . [The Blue Bedspread] is a powerful novel.” ―The New York Times Book Review on The Blue Bedspread

“This debut novel, underscored by spare language reminiscent of a Raymond Carver story, packs a deceptive punch, unflinchingly delineating the familial turbulence raging just below the veneer of daily life.” ―Entertainment Weekly on THE BLUE BEDSPREAD

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1620409046
• ISBN 13: 9781620409046
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352