The Folded Earth

In a remote town in the Himalaya, Maya tries to put behind her a time of great sorrow. By day she teaches in a school and at night she types up drafts of a magnum opus by her landlord, a relic of princely India known to all as Diwan Sahib. Her bond with this eccentric, and her friendship with a peasant girl, Charu, give her the sense that she might be able to forge a new existence away from the devastation of her past. As Maya finds out, no place is remote enough or small enough. The world she has come to love, where people are connected with nature, is endangered by the town's new administration. The impending elections are hijacked by powerful outsiders who divide people and threaten the future of her school. Charu begins to behave strangely, and soon Maya understands that a new boy in the neighbourhood may be responsible. When Diwan Sahib's nephew arrives to set up his trekking company on their estate, she is drawn to him despite herself, and finally she is forced to confront bitter and terrible truths. A many-layered and powerful narrative, by turns poetic, elegiac and comic, by the author of An Atlas of Impossible Longing.

About the Author :
Anuradha Roy won the Economist Crossword Prize, India's premier award for fiction, for her novel The Folded Earth, which was nominated for several other prizes including the Man Asia, the D.S.C., and the Hindu Literary Award. Her first novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, has been widely translated and was named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and The Seattle Times.

Review :
'I was captivated by The Folded Earth and swept into its narrative ... it tells a story about love and hate, continuity and change, loss and grief in a convincing and memorable setting' The Independent. 'Roy has an admirably restrained style and her novel offers a vivid evocation of north India. She conjures up striking images with the lightest of touches' Tatler. 'There is a gentle perfection to the way Roy writes - unhurriedly but with soft precision, using words and phrases that are so apt they almost do not register separately, fusing form and content flawlessly' The Hindu. 'Culminates in a gripping climax that leaves the reader with a poignant yearning for lost loves and sweet revenge' Times of India. 'Even minor characters are evoked with inventive idiosyncrasy ... her prose is tight with life' Daily Mail. 'Seamlessly places the private lives of her characters within a larger socio-political setting ... at the end of the Folded Earth you feel a firm belief in the redemptive qualities of life and love' Elle. 'Poignant and subtle in its storytelling ... the story of love and sorrow told in poetic prose' Verve. 'Negotiates passion and pain, hate and hauteur, with a deftness of narrative skill that is distinctly acrobatic' India Today. 'A joyous novel about grief' Tehelka. 'Delights as much for the allure of the writing as for its very hill-like twists and turns' Indian Express. 'From its inspired title to its tactilely enticing cover, Anuradha Roy's second novel demands the reader pause, slow down, savor this work' Biblio. 'A remarkably assured work ... filled with beautifully crafted prose' Country and Town House Magazine, UK.