Publisher's Synopsis
Multilayered, subtle, insightful short stories from the inimitable Booker Prizewinning authorNobody has written so powerfully of the relationship between and within India and the Western middle classes than Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. In this selection of stories, chosen by her surviving family, her ability to tenderly and humorously view the situations faced by three (sometimes interacting) culturesEuropean, post-Independence Indian, and Americanis never more acute.In A Course of English Studies,? a young woman arrives at Oxford from India and struggles to adapt, not only to the sad, stoic object of her infatuation but also to a country that seems so resistant to passion and color. In the wrenching Expiation,? the blind, unconditional love of a cloth-shop owner for his wastrel younger brother exposes the tragic beauty and foolishness of human compassion and faith. The wry and triumphant Pagans? brings us middle-aged sisters Brigitte and Frankie in Los Angeles, who discover a youthful sexuality in the company of the languid and handsome young Indian, Shoki. This collection also includes Jhabvalas last story, The Judges Will,? which appeared in the New Yorker in 2013 after her death. The profound inner experience of both men and women is at the center of Jhabvalas writing: she rivals Jane Austen with her impeccable powers of observation. With an introduction by her friend, the writer Anita Desai, At the End of the Century celebrates a writers astonishing life-time gift for language and leaves us with no doubt of Ruth Prawer Jhabvalas unique place in modern literature. A New York Times Book Review Editors Choice.
