Folded Earth - by Anuradha Roy (Paperback)

About the Book

From the widely acclaimed author of "An Atlas of Impossible Longing, " this is a powerful and triumphantly beautiful novel set in contemporary India, about a young woman forging a new life in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Book Synopsis

From the widely acclaimed author of An Atlas of Impossible Longing, a powerful and triumphantly beautiful novel set in contemporary India, about a young woman forging a new life in the foothills of the Himalayas.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2011 MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE HINDU LITERARY PRIZE FOR BEST FICTION 2011

With her debut novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, Anuradha Roy's exquisite storytelling instantly won readers' hearts around the world, and the novel was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post and The Seattle Times. Now, Roy has returned with another masterpiece that is already earning international prize attention, an evocative and deeply moving tale of a young woman making a new life for herself amid the foothills of the Himalaya.

Desperate to leave a private tragedy behind, Maya abandons herself to the rhythms of the little village, where people coexist peacefully with nature. But all is not as it seems, and she soon learns that no refuge is remote enough to keep out the modern world. When power-hungry politicians threaten her beloved mountain community, Maya finds herself caught between the life she left behind and the new home she is determined to protect.

Elegiac, witty, and profound by turns, and with a tender love story at its core, The Folded Earth brims with the same genius and love of language that made An Atlas of Impossible Longing an international success and confirms Anuradha Roy as a major literary talent.

Review Quotes

Winner of The Economist Crossword Fiction Award 2011

"How does a writer compete against the media's invasion of public discourse in all its chattering, hectoring, commercially packaged format. One way could be by creating a small, inviolable space in which to observe and record all the subterranean upheavals to create those moments of clarity that we value as literature. The small diamond that we have unearthed and enjoyed is called The Folded Earth."--The Economist Crossword Fiction Award Committee

"In An Atlas of Impossible Longing, Anuradha Roy bravely explores love, the caste system, and familial lines in a vivid portrait of war-stricken twentieth-century India. This absorbing story defies prediction. Roy's grace and mesmerizing language stayed with me long after I closed the book." --Katie Crouch, author of Girls in Trucks

"The Folded Earth is pure pleasure, that old fashioned sort of novel in which one can immerse oneself; an absolute treat."
--Business World

"Eminently readable, a literary novel that feels timeless and authentic."-- "DNA"

"A story to lose yourself in.. . . Anuradha Roy is a wonderful writer. . . . this tale of three generations of an Indian family, set over the span of the 20th century, is brilliantly told [and] intensely moving." --Sunday Express

"Recalls classics from Great Expectations to The Cherry Orchard. . . . Roy's prose is luscious yet economical. Capturing the rhythms of life in rural backwater and big city alike, she strings together jewel-like episodes. . . . giving her story the quality of something remembered." --The National Newspaper

"Roy has an admirably restrained style and her novel offers a vivid evocation of North India. She conjures up striking images with the lightest of touches."
--The Tatler

"A jewel of a story."-- "The Deccan Herald"

International Praise for The Folded Earth:

"[Roy's] narrative is poised and her language precise and poetic, without being flamboyant . . . a story about love and hate, continuity and change, loss and grief in a convincing and memorable setting."
--The Independent

"Anuradha's ability to seamlessly place the private lives of her characters within a larger socio-political setting is what she carries into her second book [as well] . . . at the end of The Folded Earth you feel a firm belief in the redemptive qualities of life and love."-- "Elle"

Praise for An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy:

"Every once in a great while, a novel comes along to remind you why you rummage through shelves in the first place. . . . [A]s you slip into the book's pages, you sense you are entering a singular creation. . . . And then, suddenly, you are swept away. . . . This, you think, is the feeling you had as you read Great Expectations or Sophie's Choice or The Kite Runner. This is why you read fiction at all."-- "The Washington Post"

"[A] deeply unsettling but beautiful novel . . . utterly enrapturing. . . . As always, Roy's writing remains gently poignant and metaphoric throughout, every vignette and scenario she constructs feels multilayered and deeply meaningful."
--For Books' Sake

"A perfect treat . . . Roy brings her characters vividly and amusingly to life."-- "Country and Town House Magazine"

"[Roy] is a fabulous storyteller with a true gift for transporting the reader right into the heat, smells, and sights of India. . . . a poetic novel easily read again and again. A complete success and an excellent choice for a discussion group." --Library Journal

"A book you will hold close to your heart long after the last page is turned." --First City Magazine

"A gently perceptive story, half comic and half poignant, of a woman's struggle to forget her sorrows in new surroundings."
--The Sunday Times

"Tight with life. . . .Roy's attention to individual words pays off as she conveys the full texture of experiences. . . . Even minor characters are evoked with inventive idiosyncrasy."-- "Daily Mail"

"A novel of beauty, poignancy, and gut-churning suspense. . . . A lyrical love letter to India's past--an India of innocent child brides and jasmine-scented summer evenings. . . . Poetic and evocative, Roy's writing is a joy." --Financial Times

"A novel to convince us that boldly drawn sagas with larger-than-life characters are still possible in a relentlessly postmodern world. . . . A sprawling epic of love, class and ambition." --Denver Post

"An incandescently evocative debut novel filled with wrenching tragedy as well as abiding passion." --Booklist

"Deftly and sensitively narrated."--The Independent

"Epic. . . . [a] gorgeous, sweeping novel." --Ms Magazine

"Impressive. . . . With her rich imagination, vivid descriptions, and skillful handling of events. . . . Roy weaves a tapestry of family life in India. . . . the story and characters stay with the reader for a long time. Roy is a writer to watch." --The SeattleTimes

"Now here is a perfect monsoon read: an exquisitely-written first novel that flows limpid and elegiac. . . . you might find yourself unbearably moved by her delicate probing of the fragility of love and longing."--India Today

"Refreshing. . . . [Roy] defines her characters quickly and skillfully, she has a keen eye for landscape, and she knows how private lives can suggest the larger shape of the public world." --The New York Times

"Roy's impressive American debut. . . the sounds, smells, and feel of Bengal come vividly to life. Cultures may differ, but longing and love are universal." --Publishers Weekly

"Roy's novel is engaging from start to finish and difficult to put down."--The Sunday Sun

"Roy's prose does not hit a single wrong note: its restrained beauty sings off the page." --Neel Mukherjee, Time Magazine

"Roy's prose soars with a lyricism that can take your breath away. . . . From her whirlwind opening sentences, readers know they're in for a ride." --Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

"Set in mid-twentieth-century India, this debut novel spans generations and political upheavals, [chronicling] both the strength of domestic bonds and the wounds that parents and children, and husbands and wives, inflict on each other." --The New Yorker

"There is a gentle perfection to the way Roy writes. . . . A beautiful love story. . . . about people who love and long--impossibly?--and love again."
--The Hindu

"Anuradha Roy's second novel demands that the reader pause, slow down, savour this work. . . . I hear echoes of Anita Brookner and Edna O'Brien and other writers like them as Roy brings Maya and her travails to life."-- "Biblio"

About the Author

Anuradha Roy is the author of An Atlas of Impossible Longing, The Folded Earth, All The Lives We Never Lived, and Sleeping on Jupiter--which won the DSC Prize for Fiction 2016 and was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2015. She lives in Ranikhet, India.