by Anita Desai

A memorable book, the best that Anita Desai has written. The StandardDeven, a Hindi lecturer at Lala Ram Lal College, Mirpore, can t quite believehis luck when he is asked to interview Nur, India's greatest Urdu poet. But theailing, debauched old man he discovers in the lanes behind Delhi s JamaMasjid bears no resemblance to the idol of his youth, surrounded by feudingwives and a herd of parasitic followers who drink his whisky and eat his food.Timid, self-effacing Deven is emboldened even as he is bullied, cheated, anddrawn into a new captivity. He will become estranged from his family andfaculty and incur countless debts to attempt recording Nur's works forposterity - in a hired room that, typically, turns out to be part of a ChandniChowk brothel. What will become of poor Deven?

In Custody

A rich, Chekhovian novel by one of the most gifted of contemporary Indianwriters - The New Yorkerthe youngest, Tara - now a mother of two - has returned from America to thescene of her unusual, lonesome childhood.Here, as always, is her sister Bim, doggedly single college lecturer andcaretaker of all. In her presence, Tara sinks into the blissful torpor of home, atonce her dreamy old self, but careful as ever around her older sister. For at theheart of this reunion are numerous tensions: their autistic brother Baba isincreasingly unquiet; Bim has not spoken to their other brother, Raja, for yearsand refuses to go to his daughter s wedding; Tara feels the persistent guilt ofhaving, like the others, abandoned her. Spanning the post-independence yearsfrom the 40s to the 80s, the sisters recall the death of Gandhi along with thoseof their parents, Raja s infatuation with their neighboring Muslim family andthe violence of Partition. For here is the tale of both modern India and onefamily s struggle against disintegration. Clear Light of Day is vintage AnitaDesai, a novel as wonderfully contemplative as a cup of afternoon tea.

by Anita Desai

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