Hardcover, 951 pages
English language
Published Nov. 19, 2002 by Thorndike Press.
Reminiscent of masters from Balzac to Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism of India. It is 1975, in an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency in whose upheavals four strangers - a spirited widow, a young student, and two tailors - will be thrust into one cramped apartment and an uncertain future. As they move from distrust to friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state. -jacket
Bleak but tremendously well-written. One or two sections of this very long book dragged on a little for me, but the book is written so beautufully and in such stark and shocking terms that I was, in the main, completely absorbed.
