First published in French in 1985, The City of Joy is set in Anand Nagar, a crowded slum in Howrah across the river from Calcutta. Lapierre based his book on years of research and on real people, whose names and details he altered, and wrote it in a novelistic style that blurs reportage and fiction.
Three main figures carry the narrative. Stephan Kovalski, a Polish Catholic priest, chooses to live among the slum's residents rather than minister to them from outside. Hasari Pal, a farmer driven from his Bengal village by drought and debt, becomes a rickshaw puller in the city. Max Loeb, a young American doctor, arrives to help run a clinic and confronts leprosy, cholera, monsoon floods and the slum's own mafia.
The book was a worldwide bestseller and was filmed by Roland Joffe in 1992. Some Indian critics objected to its portrayal of Calcutta as a byword for misery, while admirers praised its insistence on the dignity, humour and solidarity of the poor. Lapierre donated a large share of his royalties to charitable work in the region.
Book details
| Author | Dominique Lapierre |
|---|---|
| First published | 1985 |
| Original language | French |
| Translated by | Kathryn Spink |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 470 |
| Setting | Anand Nagar slum, Howrah, near Calcutta, 1970s and early 1980s |
Themes
- Poverty and resilience
- Faith and service
- Migration from countryside to city
- Solidarity
- Human dignity
Who should read it
Readers moved by stories of courage in hardship, with an awareness of the outsider's lens it brings to Calcutta.