A Googly in the Compound: a novel of the Raj

The Sanjanas planned to enjoy the tiger cub and surrender the adult to the zoo, but no plan had been made for the adolescent. The family is breakfasting in the compound of their bungalow when the cub tastes blood from a cut on Sohrab Sanjana’s hand. Also in attendance are Daisy (Sohrab’s English wife, married when she was stranded by WWII in India); Rustom (Sohrab’s brother, back from the war in Burma); Dolly (their mother, afraid the rivalry between her sons may erupt into violence echoing the rivalry between two brothers she had married in succession); and Phiroze (Dolly’s second husband, younger brother of her first). A novel of love and war, A Googly in the Compound spans the years from 1910 to 1945, heading from rural Navsari to cosmopolitan Bombay to 1930s London to wartorn Burma and Mesopotamia.

A “class” act of historical proportions, [the novel] rips into the conventional class hierarchies between British and Indians, upper class Indians and lower.—Prasenjit Chaudhury, Deccan Herald

The tiger cub grows as dangerous as the British Raj for India. Both have tasted blood and both demand more. Desai spins a fascinating story of Parsi bloodlines, romance and intrigue, counterpointed by the events that made WWII such a watershed in the history of both India and the world.—Anjana Basu, The Statesman

A family’s long-simmering tensions boil over during a trip to the old homestead in this literary novel…. The result is a wide-lensed meditation on power dynamics—within countries and within families.—Kirkus Reviews