Bøker av Meira Chand

A collection of tales that record literary author Meira Chand's own personal passage to India.

A lushly written, sweeping account of the Black Hole of Calcutta in 1756 by best selling author Meira Chand

Longlisted for the 1986 Booker Prize and based on a true story, this is Meira Chand's ravishing masterpiece of one woman's passion and downfall

In 1756 Calcutta is a city on the brink of Empire. The grandiose buildings of White Town, settled about Fort William, stand in stark contrast to the bustle of Black Town across the Maratha Ditch. In White Town Chief Magistrate Holwell and his arch-rival Governor Drake must unite to outwit the dangerous schemes of the nawab of Murshidabad. In Black Town the half-cast girl Sati, believed possessed by the Goddess Kali, finds herself the centre of a religious cult. But in Murshidabad the nawab wishes only to rid India of the British - an obsession that will lead to the notorious incident of 'The Black Hole of Calcutta.' 'Chand tells the story in a direct and compelling manner. The prose sweeps forward, and she evokes the period beautifully.' Telegraph 'Gripping... This rich and powerful novel is a wonderful historical epic and a poignant account of human suffering.' Good Book Guide

'Bhai Sahib examined Mrs Hathiramani's horoscope. He sat cross-legged on the stone floor in a once white vest and dhoti... 'What is it?' Mrs Hathiramani asked, leaning forward. She was alarmed, not so much at what might be written in the horoscope, but at the change in Bhai Sahib's expression...'Mrs Hathiramani is not the only soul in the town of Sadhbela to be unsettled by the coming of Saturn into the House of the Sun. As Meira Chand's tale unfolds, various other townspeople will meet with struggles and surprises, turmoil and cruelty, ill fate and good fortune. 'Splendidly successful... with its unexpected vein of humour and skilful intermeshing of many lives.' TLS 'Vibrant, emotional, crowded... A colourful soap opera.' Sunday Times 'A sensitively crafted exploration of a community.' Independent on Sunday

Based on a true story, Meira Chand's The Painted Cage explores the tragedy of a Victorian woman who becomes the victim of her own sensuality. In Yokohama, Japan, on the morning of January 5th 1897, the trial begins of Amy Redmore, charged with the murder of her husband Reggie, ex-secretary of the Yokohama United Club. Marriage had transported Amy - an heiress 15 years her husband's junior - from the green fields of Somerset, and along the way she discovered disturbing truths about Reggie: his mistress and secret child, his addiction to arsenic. In colonial Yokohama the couple began to lead separate lives, with fatal consequences. 'The scope of this novel and... its various beautiful images of imprisonment make the book its author's most substantial achievement.' Times Literary Supplement 'Meira Chand writes with great power.' Women's Review

Singapore - a trading post where different lives jostle and mix. As the years pass, and the Second World War sweeps through the east, with the Japanese occupying Singapore, the three are thrown together in unexpected ways, and tested to breaking point.