PUFFIN BOOKS

UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia
India | New Zealand | South Africa

Puffin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

puffinbooks.com

First published by William Heinemann Ltd 1982
Published in Puffin Books 1984
Reissued in this edition 2015

Copyright © Anita Desai, 1982

Illustrated by David Dean

The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted

ISBN: 978-0-141-36284-7

Contents

Author’s Note

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

ANITA DESAI was born and educated in India. Her published works include adult novels, two collections of short stories and two books for children. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London and the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York. She is a Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

For Lina, Aditi and Ranjit Mayadas whose house in Thul provided me with many holidays and all the material for this book

This story is based entirely on fact. Thul is a real village on the western coast of India and all the characters in this book are based on people who live in this village; only their names have been altered.

A few of the Indian words in this story will not be explained by their context and may be unfamiliar to young English readers. Often they have no direct English equivalent and I hope the following will therefore help you as you read.

Bai means mistress, or Mrs.

Bhai means brother.

A chapati is a flat disc of unleavened bread.

A dhoti is a garment worn by men in India, consisting of a piece of cloth wrapped around the lower half of the body and held at the waist.

Diwali is the name of the Hindu festival of lights.

Jai means victory.

A jalebi is a sweet made from sugar, flour and water.

A lakh is one hundred thousand.

Puja is a religious ceremony involving prayer.

Rangoli are decorative patterns drawn on the ground with white or coloured powders.

A rupee here is roughly equivalent to six pence.

ANITA DESAI