The Romantics

The young Brahman Samar has come to the holy city of Benares to complete his education and take a civil service exam. But in this city redolent of timeworn customs, where pilgrims bathe in the sacred Ganges and breathe in smoke from burning ghats along the shore, Samar is offered entirely different perspectives on his country from the people he encounters. More than illustrating the clash of cultures, Mishra presents the universal truth that our desire for the other is our most painful joy.PANKAJ MISHRA is an award-winning novelist & essayist whose writing appears frequently in The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, & the London Review of Books. Set In Contemporary India, The Romantics Tells The Story Of Samar, A Young Man Who Goes To Live In Benares To Avoid A Small-town Job And To Lose Himself In Reading And A World Beyond Himself. But Soon The Realities Of The Bustling Holy City Begin To Intrude As Samar Is Introduced To A World Of Europeans, Of Modern India And Of Disappointed Love. ‘if You Buy One Literary Novel This Year, Make Sure It’s This’ Amanda Craig, The Times, Summer Books ‘this Bright New Star Is The Real Thing’ David Robson, Sunday Telegraph 'Read it and find yourself at the source of something great' Candia McWilliam, Financial Times