A Life Apart: A Novel

Description

Ritwik Ghosh, twenty-two and recently orphaned, finds the chance to start a new life when he arrives in England from Calcutta. But Oxford holds little of the salvation Ritwik is looking for. Instead, he moves to London, where he drops out of official existence into a shadowy hinterland of illegal immigrants. The story that Ritwik writes to stave off his loneliness begins to find ghostly echoes in his own life. And, as present and past of several lives collide, Ritwik's own goes into free fall.

Reviews

"An elegant and accomplished debut...blends the poignancy of a coming-of-age story with the rawer excitements of an urban thriller." -- Sunday Telegraph "Mukherjee writes wryly and wonderfully...deeply engaging and brilliantly observed." -- The Independent "The writing...has a sculptured clarity. Assured and fearless... This is subtle, precise writing that penetrates character and motive with astringent humor." -- Helen Dunmore - The Times (London)

Author description

Neel Mukherjee was born in Calcutta. His first novel, A Life Apart, won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for best fiction, among other honors, and his second novel, The Lives of Others, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Encore Prize. He lives in London.