Rohinton Mistry

~ Neeraja Raghavan

This story has been so well told that I could not put the book down once I started it. I grew to love the characters and became so close a part of their lives that when I finally finished the 800-odd-page novel, I felt like a bunch of friends had come and stayed with me a few days, and abruptly left. There was a void for many days after I finished the book.

Set in the Emergency of the 70's in India, this is a novel that brings the reader closer to the pavement-dweller, the beggar and the slum-dweller. After reading this book, I don't pass by any of these people as indifferently as I used to; I notice them. It is also the story of sophisticated but not very well-to-do Dina Dala, a Parsi lady who has lost her husband early in life and manages life's ups and downs as best she can. A sad but haunting tale by a master storyteller. Well worth a read.