Name: LATITUDES OF LONGING.
ISBN: 9789353020262

SHUBHANGI. SWARUP

LATITUDES OF LONGING.

Shubhangi Swarup

** The phenomenal Indian bestseller ** **Winner of the Tata Lit Live Best First Book of the Year Award ** 'Intense, lyrical, and powerful. This is a remarkable debut' Jeet Thayil, author of Narcopolis and The Book of Chocolate Saints 'Latitudes of Longing is a book to be savoured' The Hindu 'Bold and imaginative' India Today A prizewinning literary epic of the subcontinent, for readers of Yaa Gyasi's HOMEGOING and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's HALF OF A YELLOW SUN In the feverish tropics of the Andaman Islands, a young botanist tends to a fragile rose he has imported to welcome his bride. Hoping their marriage will bloom in this strange life, hundreds of miles from the east coast of India, he is entranced by Chanda Devi's fierce nature and unusual gifts; speaking to trees and the ghosts of former colonialists. These islands, she tells her adoring husband, rest on a faultline, cracked so deep into the earth that spirits cross the boundary freely. But it is not this fracture that takes a tragic bite out of their happiness. With the family riven by heartbreak, their maid takes the chance to resolve her own past mistakes. Having abandoned her son many years before, she now traces him to Myanmar, only to find him in prison - the enemy of a brutal regime. The faultline she followed over the Indian Ocean now cuts north into Nepal, where the prisoner's ally, an itinerant drug dealer, tries to rescue a young woman from the dancing bars of Kathmandu. It shadows his footsteps into the Karakoram mountains, where a scientist looks deep into the abyss between India and Pakistan. It rises all the way to the snow deserts, beyond the reach of nation or war, where an elder of the village waits for the return of his true love, bringing all their journeys full circle. A breathtaking epic, Latitudes of Longing possesses the reader with a blazing sense of wonder. Shubhangi Swarup's vision goes deeper than the human stories of the subcontinent to reveal the conscious history of the earth itself. Tender in every detail, touched with humour and profound humanity, this is a novel brimming with life, an original masterpiece.

A prizewinning literary epic of the subcontinent, nature, climate and love

Latitudes of Longing

absolutely beautiful. not only is the writing beautiful but it also tells me so much about the place almost as if i was there myself!

Midori Kobayashi

"A spellbinding work of literature, Latitudes of Longing follows the interconnected lives of characters searching for true intimacy. The novel sweeps across India, from an island, to a valley, a city, and a snow desert to tell a love story of epic proportions. We follow a scientist who studies trees and a clairvoyant who speaks to them; a geologist working to end futile wars over a glacier; octogenarian lovers; a mother struggling to free her revolutionary son; a yeti who seeks human companionship; a turtle who transforms first into a boat and then a woman; and the ghost of an evaporated ocean as restless as the continents. Binding them all together is a vision of life as vast as the universe itself. A young writer awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in India for this novel, Shubhangi Swarup is a storyteller of extraordinary talent and insight. Richly imaginative and wryly perceptive, Latitudes of Longing offers a soaring view of humanity: our beauty and ugliness, our capacity to harm and love each other, and our mysterious and sacred relationship with nature"--

A Novel

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It's 4 interconnected short stories all linked by the characters connections to the nature around them. The writing was very poetic, as well, and often I found myself re-reading paragraphs just to soak up the beauty of them

Emma Lechner

Shreerag Plakazhi

I am going to leave this book unfinished because I'm 60% in and it is giving me zero reasons to finish it. I'm not feeling any investment in any of the characters, the writing is pretentious and uninspiring, and the sum of all things fail to create any sort of desire to proceed.

This is not a bad book, just quite boring.

Anyaconda

First of all both the US and UK cover for this book are stunning!

I would have to lie if I'd say that I didn't click on it to read the blurb on Netgalley just because of this beautiful cover art.

I am torn. The author's debut is written in a rich and lyrical style that flows from page to page. You can smell the flowers, hear the insects and feel the water lap around your feet. 
My biggest issue was the plot and story itself. Why I liked the first story about Chanda Devi, her husband, the ghosts and the birth of her daughter, I wanted to stay with this particular strand of story and not move to the next in a very abrupt way (and by the way, what the heck is up with mentioning his erection at the beginning and at the end of the story - I don't get it, sorry. If anybody could explain the particular symbolism or meaning, I'd be grateful).
The four parts were kind of interwoven, but after losing my main characters, I didn't care too much about Plato and the others. I feel if the author would have concentrated on a tighter plot and story line, this would have been a magnificent debut.

I will be watching this author, but for Latitudes of Longing only 3 coffee cups for the first 40% of the book and the beautiful writing style.

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus books for providing me with an eARC for an honest review.

Shreyaa

A sweeping, lyrical debut about the love and longing between humanity and the earth itself, by a major new literary talent from India “A marvel of magical realism.”—O: The Oprah Magazine A spellbinding work of literature, Latitudes of Longing follows the interconnected lives of characters searching for true intimacy. The novel sweeps across India, from an island, to a valley, a city, and a snow desert, to tell a love story of epic proportions. We follow a scientist who studies trees and a clairvoyant who speaks to them; a geologist working to end futile wars over a glacier; octogenarian lovers; a mother struggling to free her revolutionary son; a yeti who seeks human companionship; a turtle who transforms first into a boat and then a woman; and the ghost of an evaporated ocean as restless as the continents. Binding them all together is a vision of life as vast as the universe itself. A young writer awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in India for this novel, Shubhangi Swarup is a storyteller of extraordinary talent and insight. Richly imaginative and wryly perceptive, Latitudes of Longing offers a soaring view of humanity: our beauty and ugliness, our capacity to harm and love one another, and our mysterious and sacred relationship with nature. Longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature • Shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature • Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award • Winner of the Sushila Devi Literature Award for the Best Book of Fiction Written by a Woman • Winner of the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award for Fiction

Alexandra Troshina

A sweeping, lyrical debut about the love and longing between humanity and the earth itself, by a major new literary talent from India "A marvel of magical realism."--O: The Oprah Magazine A spellbinding work of literature, Latitudes of Longing follows the interconnected lives of characters searching for true intimacy. The novel sweeps across India, from an island, to a valley, a city, and a snow desert, to tell a love story of epic proportions. We follow a scientist who studies trees and a clairvoyant who speaks to them; a geologist working to end futile wars over a glacier; octogenarian lovers; a mother struggling to free her revolutionary son; a yeti who seeks human companionship; a turtle who transforms first into a boat and then a woman; and the ghost of an evaporated ocean as restless as the continents. Binding them all together is a vision of life as vast as the universe itself. A young writer awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in India for this novel, Shubhangi Swarup is a storyteller of extraordinary talent and insight. Richly imaginative and wryly perceptive, Latitudes of Longing offers a soaring view of humanity: our beauty and ugliness, our capacity to harm and love one another, and our mysterious and sacred relationship with nature. Longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature * Shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature * Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award * Winner of the Sushila Devi Literature Award for the Best Book of Fiction Written by a Woman * Winner of the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award for Fiction

LATITUDES OF LONGING.

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