The Last Song of Dusk by S.D. Shanghvi

                                              

Paperback:   309 pages

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, India,

Publisher:  Orion, Phoenix 2005

Source:  A friend

First Sentence:  On the day Anuradha Patwardhan was leaving Udaipur for Bombay to marry a man she had not even met in the twenty-one years of her existence.

Review Quote: “A cornucopia of life at full tilt and high colour . . . Shanghvi–who’s been compared to Arundhati Roy, Zadie Smith, and Vikram Seth–combines ribald humour with prose poetry.”

–Sunday Oregonian

My Opinion: 

 I doubt this book is one I would have chosen to read, I did so as it was given to me by a friend. A very lyrical novel in style but be warned some of the scenes contain very explicit content. 

The novel tells the magical and at times unrealistic story of the main protagonist Anuradha, after she leaves home as a young girl to marry a man she has never met. What kept me reading was the setting in 1920's India.

If you are interested in novels set in India where you can learn some of the history of the country and become involved in the lives of the characters, then this is one you will enjoy.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

“Set in 1920s India, this magical debut novel tells the story of beautiful Anuradha, whose songs are spellbinding, but whose fate is troubled.”
–Elle

When the astonishingly lovely Anuradha moves to Bombay to marry Vardhmaan, a charming young doctor, their life together has all the makings of a fairy tale. But when their firstborn son dies in a terrible accident, tragedy transforms their marriage into a bleak landscape. As the pair starts fresh in a heartbroken old villa by the sea, they are joined by Nandini, a dazzling and devious artist with a trace of leopard blood in her veins. While Nandini flamboyantly takes on Bombay’s art scene, the couple attempts to mend their marriage, eventually discovering that real love, mercurial and many-hued, is given and received in silence. Sensuous and electric, achingly moving and wickedly funny, The Last Song of Dusk is a tale of fate that will haunt your heart like an old and beloved song.

Author Profile:    

                                       

Shanghvi was born in Juhu, Mumbai, India in 1977. He is an alumnae of Mumbai’s Mithibai College, and later pursued an MA in International Journalism at the University of Westminster, London, where he specialised in Photography in 1999.
He is an Indian author in English-language whose notable books include, The Last Song of Dusk and The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay. His book, The Last Song of Dusk, has been translated into 10 languages.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Amazon Author Profile.   Goodreads Profile