The Earthspinner

In this exquisite and intricately constructed novel, ancient myths breathe new life to provide a powerful allegorical understanding of the changed ways of loving and living in the modern world. Sara is studying at a prestigious British university and seeks a reprise from her loneliness by practising the traditional craft she learned in India when she was young: pottery. She recalls her childhood, the lost dog, Chinna, who brings a community together, and the life of her revered pottery teacher, Elango, a Hindu who faced prejudice after falling in love with a Muslim woman. Switching with ease between Sara's diary entries and Elango's life a decade earlier, Roy delivers a searing exploration into the fragility of peace. As fortunes change within one explosive day, and religious extremism brings hurt and violence to a rural village, the consequences of daring to dream against the tide are unleashed. Moving its protagonists between India and Britain, The Earthspinner shows the many ways in which the East encounters the West, fanaticism wars tirelessly against reason, and the individual's creative desires struggle against a populace's basic instinct for destruction. Roy's fifth novel will delight her many faithful readers and is sure to appeal to new audiences. She has delivered a story of immigration, prejudice, art, and love for our era.