The Folded Earth

"The Folded Earth" by Roy, Anuradha, published by MacLehose Press. Ranikhet: a remote town spanning three hills in the Indian Himalaya, surrounded by oak, cypress and cedar, and to the north, the ice-white teeth of the highest peaks. Here, Maya begins to find peace after a time of great sorrow. But soon the world she has come to love is threatened by the town's new administration: elections are hijacked by powerful outsiders who sow division and mistrust. When her landlord's nephew returns to set up a trekking company, Maya is drawn to him despite herself, but his long hikes in the mountains evoke painful echoes of the past. By turn poetic, elegiac and comic, The Folded Earth reveals the strange shapes that India's religious and social conflicts can assume, even on distant mountaintops.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. About the AuthorAnuradha Roy has worked as a publisher and journalist and is now editor at Permanent Black, an independent press in New Delhi. She was the winner of the Picador-Outlook Non-fiction Prize in 2004, and her first novel An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008) has been translated into thirteen languages. Book details: published 2011. Order now on BookShops.in with fast, reliable delivery across India.