In 1975, in an unnamed seaside city that is clearly Bombay, Dina Dalal, a Parsi widow determined not to depend on her brother, takes in work from an export firm. She hires two tailors, Ishvar Darji and his nephew Om, who have fled caste violence in their village, and rents a room to Maneck Kohlah, a student from a hill town whose family store is losing out to development.
Mistry gives each character a long backstory, from the Chamaar family that defied caste by becoming tailors to Maneck's mountain childhood, before bringing them together in Dina's flat. As Indira Gandhi's Emergency unfolds, slum demolitions, forced sterilisation drives, bonded labour and petty officials press in from outside, and their fragile household is tested again and again.
This is a big, compassionate novel about friendship and dignity under crushing systems, written in clear, unshowy prose. It won the Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker. Its emotional force is famous, and readers should be prepared for hardship.
Book details
| Author | Rohinton Mistry |
|---|---|
| First published | 1995 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 603 |
| Setting | An unnamed city by the sea (Bombay) and rural north India, 1940s to 1984, mainly 1975 to 1977 |
| Awards | Giller Prize 1995, Commonwealth Writers' Prize 1996 |
Themes
- The emergency
- Caste oppression
- Friendship
- Poverty
- Resilience
Who should read it
Readers who want an absorbing, humane epic about ordinary people living through India's Emergency.
If you liked this, try
- The God of Small Things
- Such a Long Journey
- The White Tiger