Author:Brinda Charry

In a small town in South India, beneath the brutal summer sun, a young girl watches anxiously as tensions simmer, then boil over...
Her parents away on business, eleven-year-old Nithya spends six sultry months in Tamil Nadu with her unmarried uncle and widowed aunt. Battling sheer boredom, stupefying heat and nosy neighbours, she befriends the family's pretty servant, Sudha. Tagging along to milk the buffalo and gather vegetables, Nithya learns the rhythm of the older girl's life - and the secret that threatens it. When Sudha hangs herself in her bedroom, the surrounding brahmin community seethes with fascination, and Nithya learns more about her uncle and her aunt that she wanted to know.
As she tells Sudha's story in an exquisitely rendered voice, Nithya emerges as an extraordinary girl in her own right.
Some of the greatest words ever written on thwarted love since Romeo and Juliet
—— The TimesA powerful novel which brings two troubled and brilliant people back to life
—— Sunday TelegraphA razor-sharp blade of light... This is fiction's raising of Lazarus, miraculous, touched with wonder, grace and utter, steadfast belief in the life being resurrected... A work of intense, unflinching passion and conviction, written with Galloway's heart's blood
—— The TimesJanice Galloway's exciting, vibrant third novel proves a virtuoso piece of storytelling...this obvious Booker contender is as compelling as the tormented players and music that inspired it
—— Eileen Battersby , Irish TimesYou read Clara and you catch the music of another mind, and wherever it comes from Janice Galloway plays the notes to what sounds very much like perfection. This is a virtuoso performance
—— ScotsmanA novel dizzy with lyrical passages and pulsating with the musical passion of Clara's complicated, tragic love for her husband Robert Schumann
—— Scotland on SundayHer limpid prose style is so seductive and so beautiful a fine meditation on art, love and loss...
—— Meaghan Delahunt, The ScotsmanImmensely readable, a grand American novel
—— New StatesmanSeizes readers by the lapels with a story that feels serious and mysterious ... He has teased ordinary circumstances into something extraordinary, which is exactly what we want our fiction writers to do
—— EconomistFerris writes hauntingly on the fragility of our minds and on the compulsions that drive us, despite our best intentions
—— VogueBrave and masterful. A writer of the first order
—— Boston GlobeAn accomplished and daring work
—— Los Angeles TimesFaulks's most vivid character is the odious John Veals, a hedge-fund manager, who relishes all the money that he makes and the power that he quietly exerts... Veals is brilliantly insidious... A thoughtful page-turner... The handsome sunset is heavily, and rightly, weighed down by dark clouds
—— The TimesA tragedy at sea, a miracle on paper... Moore offers us, elegantly, exultantly, the very consciousness of her characters. In this way, she does more than make us feel for them. She makes us feel what they feel, which is the point of literature and maybe even the point of being human.
—— Globe and MailThis mesmerising book is full of tears, and is a graceful meditation on how to survive life's losses
—— Marie ClaireFans of Anita Shreve and Anne Enright will love this
—— Viv Groskop , Red MagazineThe gentle, meandering pace of this exquisitely expresses the agony of grief and the confusions and complexities of parental love
—— Easy LivingMoore's portrayal of loss is remarkably real
—— Clare Longrigg , PsychologiesProfoundly moving, beautifully written book
—— Waterstone's Books QuarterlyA marvellous book
—— Winnipeg Free PressA perfectly pitched novel that captures its characters and their dilemmas.
—— Woman and HomeLose yourself in a fantastical gastronomical journey ... This novel explores familial love in an unexpected way, and you'll be hooked from the first taste
—— SheThis emotional and moving tale blew us away with its beauty
—— BellaIt's as beautiful as it is strange. Bender writes such lyrical sentences, you pause over them in wonder. She has an unusual take on life; and makes even the ordinary extraordinary. It's a compulsive page turner. This book is already a best seller in America, and has been embraced by book clubs. I loved it. It's one of those books you don't want to finish - and even when you have - it stays in your mind. Bender has written three previous novels. I intend to savour them all
—— Irish ExaminerThis novel, in the style of stories like Chocolat, is a dreamy feast of gorgeous writing ... Gently, beautiful, odd, this is a story to sip and savour
—— Dublin Evening HeraldAn intriguing premise for an original novel about a family and its relationships
—— Good Book GuideMoving and highly original, this book will make you look at food in a whole new light
—— Star