Glass Palace, The

Description: The acclaimed author of 'The Calcutta Chromosome' and 'The Shadow Lines' has burst out on to the big stage with a major saga on that hidden country, Burma. Rajkumar is only another boy, helping on a market stall in the dusty square outside the royal palace, when the British force the Burmese king, queen and all the court into exile. He is rescued by the far-seeing Chinese merchant, and with him builds up a logging business in upper Burma. But haunted by his vision of the royal family, he journeys to the obscure town in India where they have been exiled. The picture of the tension between the Burmese, the Indian and the British, is excellent. Among the great range of characters are one of the court ladies, Miss Dolly, whom he marries; and the redoubtable Jonakin, part of the British-educated Indian colony, who with her husband has been put in charge of the Burmese exiled court. The story follows the fortunes -- rubber estates in Malaya, businesses in Singapore, estates in Burma -- which Rajkumar, with his Chinese, British and Burmese relations, friends and associates, builds up -- from 1870 through World War II to the scattering of the extended family to New York and Thailand, London and Hong Kong in the post-war years.

Review: 'A distinctive voice, polished and profound.' TLS 'Ambitious, multigenerational, "The Glass Palace" is akin to a 19th-century Russian novel!a rich, layered epic that probes the meaning of identity and homeland.' LA Times 'An absorbing story of a world in transition, brought to life through characters who love and suffer with equal intensity.' J.M. Coetzee 'A "Doctor Zhivago" for the Far East.' Independent

Prizes: Winner of Commonwealth Writer's Prize Best Book Eurasia 2001.

Author Biography: The author was born in India of Burmese parents. Educated in India and Britain, he now lives in New York.