The Lowland

Jhumpa Lahiri

“Moving and vivid, an unforgettable story of two brothers and the different paths they take.  A novel about how political passion can destroy lives”

Helen Fraser, Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014 Chair

From Subhash’s earliest memories, at every point, his brother was there. In the suburban streets of Calcutta where they wandered before dusk and in the hyacinth-strewn ponds where they played for hours on end, Udayan was always in his older brother’s sight.

So close in the age, they were inseparable in childhood and yet, as the years pass – as US tanks roll into Vietnam and riots sweep across India – their brotherly bond can do nothing to forestall the tragedy that will end up as their lives. Udayan – charismatic and impulsive – finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement, a rebellion waged to eradicate inequality and poverty. He will give everything, risk all, for what he believes, and in doing so, will transform the futures of those dearest to him.

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