Rohinton Mistry – författare

'A towering masterpiece by a writer of genius.' IndependentIndia, 1975. An unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency. Amidst a backdrop of wild political turmoil, the lives of four unlikely strangers collide forever. An epic panorama of modern India in all its corruption, violence, and heroism, A Fine Balance is Rohinton Mistry's prize-winning masterpiece: a Dickensian modern classic brimming with compassion, humour, and insight - and a hymn to the human spirit in an inhuman state.'A masterpiece of illumination and grace. Like all great fiction, it transforms our understanding of life.' Guardian'Magical.' New York Times'Monumental.' Time'Astonishing.' Wall Street JournalWhat readers are saying:'One of the most layered and beautifully executed books I've ever read ... Easily one of my all time favourite books!''Many say that the mark of a good book is that it stays with you; well, I read this several years ago and I still find myself thinking of the characters ... Beautiful.''What a storyteller, what a wide canvas he covers of India ... Wonderful.''One of the best and most entertaining books I have ever read ... I can't recommend it highly enough.''Often heartbreaking, always evocative ... A book to savour rather than to gallop through.''One of the best books I've read ... Not a book for the faint-hearted, but it is a book with a big heart.'

Nariman Vakeel, a seventy-nine-year-old Parsi widower, beset by Parkinson's disease and haunted by memories of the past, lives in a once-elegant apartment with his two middle-aged stepchildren. When his condition worsens he is forced to take up residence with Roxana, his own daughter, her husband, Yezad, and their two young sons. The effect of the new responsibility on Yezad, who is already besieged by financial worries, pushes him into a scheme of deception. This sets in motion a series of events - a great unravelling and a revelation of the family's love-torn past, that leads to the narrative's final outcome.

Such a Long Journey is set in (what was then) Bombay against the backdrop of war in the Indian subcontinent and the birth of Bangladesh, telling the story of the peculiar way in which the conflict impinges on the lives of Gustad Noble, an ordinary man, and his family.It was the brilliant first novel by one of the most remarkable writers to have emerged from the Indian literary tradition in many years. It was shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize, and won the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize.