Ritwik Ghosh, twenty-two and recently orphaned, finds the chance to start a new life when he arrives in England from Calcutta. But to do so, he must not only relive his entire past but also try and understand it. Moreover, he must make sense of his relationship with his mother - scarred, abusive and all-consuming. 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. However, the story that Ritwik ...
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Ritwik Ghosh, twenty-two and recently orphaned, finds the chance to start a new life when he arrives in England from Calcutta. But to do so, he must not only relive his entire past but also try and understand it. Moreover, he must make sense of his relationship with his mother - scarred, abusive and all-consuming. 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. However, the story that Ritwik writes to stave off his utter and complete loneliness - a Miss Gilby who teaches English, music and Western manners to the wife of educated zamindar - begins to find ghostly echoes in his life with his aged landlady, Anne Cameron. And then, one night, in the badlands of King's Cross, Ritwik runs into Zafar bin Hashm, suave, impossibly rich, unfathomable, possible arms dealer. What does the drive to redemption hold for lost Ritwik? Set in 1970s and 80s India, 90s England and in the first decade of twentieth-century Bengal, "A Life Apart" is a scalding novel about dislocations and alienations, about the tenuous and unconscious intersections of lives and histories and about the consolations of storytelling. Above all, it is about the impossibilities of love.
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Add this copy of A Life Apart to cart. $11.65, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Constable & Robinson.
Add this copy of A Life Apart to cart. $14.97, good condition, Sold by Goldstone Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Ammanford, CARMS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2010 by Constable.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Ex-Library Book. Has usual library markings and stamps inside. All orders are dispatched within 1 working day from our UK warehouse. Established in 2004, we are dedicated to recycling unwanted books on behalf of a number of UK charities who benefit from added revenue through the sale of their books plus huge savings in waste disposal. No quibble refund if not completely satisfied.
Add this copy of A Life Apart to cart. $19.51, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2010 by Constable.
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This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 600grams, ISBN: 9781849011013.
Add this copy of A Life Apart to cart. $28.00, like new condition, Sold by Garys Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Apache Junction, AZ, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Constable.
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Fine in Fine jacket. Book. Signed on Full Title Page First Printing. DATED by the author on 5-vi-2010 Hay-on-Wye. Author's first book. His novel THE LIVES OF OTHERS was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, 2014.
Add this copy of A Life Apart to cart. $42.95, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Constable.
Add this copy of A Life Apart >>>> a Superb Signed, Dated & Located Uk to cart. $54.69, like new condition, Sold by Zeitgeist Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Twickenham, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2010 by Constable.
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Fine in Fine jacket. 1st Printing. A fine, unread UK first edition, first printing hardback-in a fine unclipped dustjacket fitted with a removable clear mylar sleeve-All my books are always securely packed with plenty of bubblewrap in professional boxes and promptly dispatched (within 2-3 days)-"WINNER OF THE VODAFONE-CROSSWORD AWARD, INDIA'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS LITERARY PRIZE. 'Incisive and poetic, sensual and intelligent. A book with great breadth, heart and courage. ' ALI SMITH. 'One of the most intense and disturbing first novels I have read in many years. ' PANKAJ MISHRA. 'A Life Apart' tells two stories. The first is of Ritwik's; a story of a young man's escape from a blighted childhood of squalor and abuse in Calcutta to the edge of what he considers to be a new world, full of possibilities, in England, where he has a chance to rebuild his life and start all over again. But his past, especially the scarred, all-consuming relationship with his recently-dead mother, is a minefield: will Ritwik find the salvation he's looking for? Could it arrive in the form of the second story that comprises the novel, the one he is writing himself, the story of Miss Gilby, a marginal character from a Tagore novel? Or could it be in the figure of eighty-six-year-old Anne Cameron, fragile and damaged, who gives shelter to Ritwik in London in exchange of the care that she needs? As present and past of several lives collide, Ritwik's own goes into free fall. Critically acclaimed when it was first published in India in 2008, this award-winning debut redefines the enigma of arrival for what has been called the multicultural society and is equally powerful in its depiction of India as in its portrayal of England. Written with unrelenting honesty, the ambitious narrative confronts the larger questions of human frailty and the strange manifestations of love. Unsentimental yet full of compassion, and written in prose of spare, lyrical beauty, 'A Life Apart' is a scorching novel that marks a new turning point in writing from and of the Subcontinent."-SIGNED, DATED & LOCATED BY THE AUTHOR-Pictures available upon request.