حرارت و غبار

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala skilfully weaves two parallel stories set in India, one in the present and the other in the days of British rule, intertwining the narratives of two women and their relationships to India.“Her tussle with India is one of the richest treats of contemporary literature.” — The GuardianIn 1920s India, Olivia - a beautiful, spoiled and deeply bored English colonial wife - is drawn inexorably to a minor Indian prince. Eventually, she outrages the tiny, suffocating town where her husband is a civil servant when she elopes with the captivating Nawab. This is also the story of Olivia’s step-granddaughter who, 50 years later, is drawn to India by her fascination with the letters left behind by the now-dead woman, and by her obsession with solving the enigma of Olivia’s scandal.“A superb book. A complex storyline, handled with dazzling assurance... moving and profound. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has not only written a love story, but she has also exposed the soul and nerve ends of a fascinating and compelling country. This is a book of cool, controlled brilliance. It is a jewel to be treasured.” — The TimesRuth Prawer Jhabvala wrote 12 novels, including the Booker Prize-winning Heat and Dust. As well as her novels, she produced five volumes of short stories and wrote more than a dozen screenplays, including Howard’s End and A Room with a View, for both of which she received an Academy Award. A profound and powerful novel, winner of the Booker Prize Set in colonial India during the 1920s, Heat and Dust tells the story of Olivia, a beautiful woman suffocated by the propriety and social constraints of her position as the wife of an important English civil servant. Longing for passion and independence, Olivia is drawn into the spell of the Nawab, a minor Indian prince deeply involved in gang raids and criminal plots. She is intrigued by the Nawab's charm and aggressive courtship, and soon begins to spend most of her days in his company. But then she becomes pregnant, and unsure of the child's paternity, she is faced with a wrenching dilemma. Her reaction to the crisis humiliates her husband and outrages the British community, breeding a scandal that lives in collective memory long after her death. About the Author Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is the author of twelve novels. Her short fiction has regularly appeared in The New Yorker, and her story collections include East into Upper East and the critically acclaimed Out of India. She is a MacArthur Fellow and has been honored with an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Jhabvala's screenplays for Merchant-Ivory Productions have earned two Academy Awards. She recently completed a screen adaptation of Henry James's The Golden Bowl. Jhabvala and her husband divide their time between Delhi and New York. Set in India, HEAT AND DUST is the story of Olivia, a beautiful, spoiled, bored English colonial wife in the 1920s who is drawn inexorably into the spell of the Nawab, a minor Indian prince deeply involved in plots and intrigues. Olivia outrages the tiny, suffocating town where her husband is a civil servant by eloping with the captivating Nawab. It is also the story of Olivia's step-granddaughter who, fifty years later, is drawn to India by her fascination with the letters left behind by the now dead older woman, and by her obsession with solving the enigma of Olivia's scandal. A penetrating and compassionate love story, this brilliant novel immerses the reader in the heat, dust, and squalor of India, while providing a compelling mixture of the spiritual and the sensual. * A profound and powerful novel, winner of the Booker Prize in 1975