"If book reviews just cut to the chase, this one would simply read: This is a terrific novell Read itl Desai characters are so alive, the Places so vivid, that we are always inside their lives. Her insights into human nature, rare for so young a writer, juggle timeless wisdom and twenty-first-century self-doubt."

--Ann Harleman, The Boston Globe

In a crumbling, isolated house at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas lives an embittered judge who wants only to retire in peaces when his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, arrives on his doorstele. The judge's cook watches over her distractedly, for his thoughts are often oft his son, Biju, who is hopscotching from one gritty New York restaurant to another. Kiran Desai's brilliant novel, published to huge acclaim, is a story of joy and despair. Her characters face numerous choices that majestically illuminate the consequences of colonialism as it collides with the modern world.