Rohinton Mistry

It is Bombay in 1971, the year India went to war over what was to become Bangladesh. A hard-working bank clerk, Gustad Noble is a devoted family man who gradually sees his modest life unravelling. His young daughter falls ill; his promising son defies his father's ambitions for him. He is the one reasonable voice amidst the ongoing dramas of his neighbours. One day, he receives a letter from an old friend, asking him to help in what at first seems like an heroic mission. But he soon finds himself unwittingly drawn into a dangerous network of deception. Compassionate, and rich in details of character and place, this unforgettable novel charts the journey of a moral heart in a turbulent world of change. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

Such a Long Journey

A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry’s stunning internationally acclaimed bestseller, is set in mid-1970s India. It tells the story of four unlikely people whose lives come together during a time of political turmoil soon after the government declares a “State of Internal Emergency.” Through days of bleakness and hope, their circumstances – and their fates – become inextricably linked in ways no one could have foreseen. Mistry’s prose is alive with enduring images and a cast of unforgettable characters. Written with compassion, humour, and insight, A Fine Balance is a vivid, richly textured, and powerful novel written by one of the most gifted writers of our time.

A Fine Balance

Explores the crowded, throbbing life of India in a collection of stories set in Firozsha Baag, a Bombay apartment building characterized by an unexpected sense of community

Swimming Lessons and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag

In these eleven intersecting stories, Rohinton Mistry reveals the rich, complex patterns of life inside a Bombay apartment building. The occupants - from Jaakaylee, the ghost-seer, through Najami, the only owner of a refrigerator in Firozsha Baag, to Rustomji the Curmudgeon and Kersi, the boy whose life threads through the book - all express, knowingly or unknowingly, the tensions between the past and the present, between the old world and the new. Compassionate and extremely funny, Tales from Firozsha Baag illuminates the meaning of change through the brilliantly textured mosaic of seemingly ordinary lives. 'Mistry's joyful notation of the world reminds us that description is one of fiction's first and gravest tasks.' Guardian 'A fine collection . . . the volume is informed by a tone of gentle compassion for seemingly insignificant lives.' New York Times

Tales from Firozsha Baag

Nariman Vakeel is a seventy-nine-year-old Parsi widower beset by Parkinson's disease and haunted by memories of the past. He lives with his two middle-aged step-children. When Nariman's illness is compunded by a broken ankle, he's forced to take up residence with his daughter Roxana, her husband Yezad and their two young sons. This new responsibility for Yezad, who is already besieged by financial worries, proves too much and pushes him into a scheme of deception - with devastating consequences. Wise and compassionate, Family Matters has all the richness, the gentle humour and the narrative sweep that have earned Rohinton Mistry the highest accolades. 'It is rare to discover a novel in which the characters are so well drawn that you feel wrapped up in their problems, rather than just privy to them.' Independent on Sunday 'A brilliant novel from one of India's finest living novelists.' Observer

Family Matters

Roman

Das Gleichgewicht der Welt

Cân Bằng Mong Manh

Rohinton Mistry is arguably Canada’s most beloved and popular writer. His fiction has won prestigious prizes in Canada and around the world. The Oprah’s Book Club selection of his novel A Fine Balance increased Mistry’s already large audience in North America, and in Canada alone to more than a quarter of a million readers. He is working on a new novel, as yet unscheduled, but this delicious little book will be savoured by Mistry’s hungry and devoted fans. The Scream is a single story by Rohinton Mistry, to date his shortest book! And what a gem it is. Set in a Bombay apartment, The Scream is narrated by a man at the end of his life, who is angry at the predicament of old age, at his isolation from his family and from a world that no longer understands him. He rails and raves in ways that are both hilarious and moving, and which touch us with recognition. Printed originally in a limited edition of 150 copies that was sold exclusively by World Literacy of Canada as a fundraiser for their organization, The Scream was exquisitely produced and featured original artwork by the celebrated Canadian artist Tony Urquhart. This is the first trade edition of this treasure, which will retain beautiful production values as well as all of Tony Urquhart’s colourful, dynamic artwork, which was inspired by the story. This gorgeous little book is a must-have for all of Rohinton Mistry’s fans, for their own shelves as a collector’s item and as the perfect gift.

The Scream

'One of the finest novels that most of us will ever read. It certainly is a masterpiece.' - Irish Times

Such a Long Journey is set in (what was then) Bombay against the backdrop of war in the Indian subcontinent and the birth of Bangladesh, telling the story of the peculiar way in which the conflict impinges on the lives of Gustad Noble, an ordinary man, and his family.It was the brilliant first novel by one of the most remarkable writers to have emerged from the Indian literary tradition in many years. It was shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize, and won the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize.

Delikatna rownowaga

Set in Bombay in the mid-1990s, Family Matters tells a story of familial love and obligation, of personal and political corruption, of the demands of tradition and the possibilities for compassion. Nariman Vakeel, the patriarch of a small discordant family, is beset by Parkinson’s and haunted by memories of his past. He lives with his two middle-aged stepchildren, Coomy, bitter and domineering, and her brother, Jal, mild-mannered and acquiescent. But the burden of the illness worsens the already strained family relationships. Soon, their sweet-tempered half-sister, Roxana, is forced to assume sole responsibility for her bedridden father. And Roxana’s husband, besieged by financial worries, devises a scheme of deception involving his eccentric employer at a sporting goods store, setting in motion a series of events that leads to the narrative’s moving outcome. Family Matters has all the richness, the gentle humour, and the narrative sweep that have earned Mistry the highest of accolades around the world.

Tiden er 1975. Stedet er Indien. Premierministeren hedder Indira Gandhi, og situationen i landet er kommet fuldstændig ud af kontrol. På papiret er Indien et demokrati, men millioner af mennesker lever under feudallignende forhold, og de urørlige går over på den anden side af gaden af frygt for, at deres skygge skal falde på en højkastehindu. I denne betændte situation finder fire umage mennesker sammen i et arbejdsfællesskab en lillebitte lejlighed ved havet: Lejlighedens indehaver, enken Dina Dalal, en ung studerende, den blide Manech Kohlah, samt to skræddere, den altid optimistiske Ishvar Darji og hans unge nevø, Omprakash (Om), hvis glæde ved livet er blevet slået helt i stykker hjemme i landsbyen. Rohinton Mistry modtog for denne i alle henseender store roman The Commonwealth Writers-prisen, The Giller Prize og den danske ALOA-pris. En hårfin balance blev ligeledes shortlistet til den prestigefyldte engelske litteraturpris, Booker-prisen.

En hårfin balance

It is Bombay in 1971, the year India went to war over what was to become Bangladesh. A hard-working bank clerk, Gustad Noble is a devoted family man who gradually sees his modest life unravelling. His young daughter falls ill; his promising son defies his father’s ambitions for him. He is the one reasonable voice amidst the ongoing dramas of his neighbours. One day, he receives a letter from an old friend, asking him to help in what at first seems like an heroic mission. But he soon finds himself unwittingly drawn into a dangerous network of deception. Compassionate, and rich in details of character and place, this unforgettable novel charts the journey of a moral heart in a turbulent world of change.

Chiara Vatteroni

Firozsha Baag

A Fine Balance :--a Novel

Marilyn Herbert

A Novel by Rohinton Mistry

Bookclub-in-A-Box Discusses a Fine Balance

Firozsha Baag is an apartment building in Bombay. Its ceilings need plastering and some of the toilets leak appallingly, but its residents are far from desperate, though sometimes contentious and unforgiving. In these witty, poignant stories, Mistry charts the intersecting lives of Firozsha Baag, yielding a delightful collective portrait of a middle-class Indian community poised between the old ways and the new. "A fine collection...the volume is informed by a tone of gentle compassion for seemingly insignificant lives."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

Rohinton Mistry

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