BETWEEN THE ASSASSINATIONS

This is the dazzling second book from the winner of the 2008 Man BookerPrize and Nibbies 'Author of the Year' Aravind Adiga: one of the summer'smost eagerly anticipated paperbacks and an Atlantic Superlead title. In hiscompelling new work of fiction, Aravind Adiga has imagined the small Indiancity of Kittur, an everytown nestling on the coast south of Goa and northof Calicut. Through the myriad and distinctive voices of its inhabitants,an entire Indian world comes vividly and unforgettably to life. From amiddle-aged Communist to an Islamic terrorist; from the young children of aTamil building-site worker to a privileged and alienated schoolboy; from anidealistic journalist to a Brahmin housemaid, Adiga has produced amicrocosm of Indian life in the 80s, the years between the assassinationsof Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv. Muslim, Christian and Hindu, high-casteand low-caste, rich and poor: all of Indian life - the 'sorrowful parade ofhumanity' - is here. Journeying through Kittur's streets and schoolyards,bedrooms and businesses, its inner workings and outer limits, Adigaconjures a remarkable fictional landscape. Sizzling with acid observations,and textured with wicked humour and gentle humanity, "Between theAssassinations" is a triumph of voice and imagination.