Zadie Smith, On Beauty (Hamish Hamilton, 2005)
A romp through the politics of race and academic life. Brilliant riffs on affirmative action, fundamentalist Christianity and English usage, through explorations of the increasingly intertwined lives of two families where the fathers, two professors who work in the same area, detest one another. A hilarious and sad confrontation scene in a faculty meeting. Shortlisted […]
Paul Scott, The Jewel in the Crown (Heinemann, 1966)
An honest effort to grapple with the harsh complexities of India, and a sympathetic account of people struggling to cope with, and some to overcome, cultural difference. The characters of the British Raj are drawn with sensitivity and compassion, and the story is utterly gripping. A variety of narrative voices give the novel extraordinary range […]
David Mitchell, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Random House, 2010)
Interweaving the history of the Dutch East India Company, Japan of the Shoguns and the mysteries of a Buddhist monastery, Mitchell tells a moving story of unrequited love. The upright and humourless clerk, Jacob de Zoet, is drawn into intrigue and corruption, and strives to find a way to escape while helping a fascinating women […]