Rajkumar Raha is 12 when he is orphaned on a sampan tethered in a
mangrove-lined estuary. He makes his way from Bengal into Burma, to
Mandalay, just ahead of the British arriving to depose King Thebaw.
On the eve of the Royal Family's departure into exile, Raha sees,
in the Glass Palace, Dolly, the Queen's 10-year-old handmaid. This
is obsession at first sight. Almost 20 years later, having made his
fortune in timber, Raha seeks out Dolly in her exile in Ratnagiri.
Throughout the novel, the Empire expands and then retracts,
fortunes are won and lost, the face of the world changes. The novel
follows Raha's family through three generations and many cities. It
teems with servants of the British Empire and with their colonial
subjects. This is the East as seen by its own people, described by
a writer whose allegiance is simply to the human. Ghosh is one of
the most sympathetic post-colonial voices to be heard today. He
looks at love and loyalty, and examines questions of Empire and
responsibility, of tradition and modernity. This is a funny, sad,
entertaining, wise and - ultimately - a hopeful book. I loved it.
Review by AHDAF SOUEIF. Editor's note: Ahdaf Soueif is the author
of The Map of Love. (Kirkus UK)
"An absorbing story of a world in transition, bought to life through characters who love and suffer with equal intensity."
J.M.COETZEE
"Ghosh is one of the most sympathetic post-colonial voices to be heard today. He looks at love and loyalty, and examines the question of Empire and responsibility, of tradition and modernity. This is a funny, sad, entertaining, wise and – ultimately – a hopeful book. I loved it."
AHDAF SOUEIF
"Ghosh has established himself as one of the finest prose writers of his generation of Indians writing in English."
FINANCIAL TIMES
An extraordinary epic 'The Glass Palace' is a masterful novel of love, war and family and presents us with a band of memorable characters, spread across Burma, Malaya and India, and across three generations --before the door to Burma closes behind them, and the glittering light of that civilisation seems extinguished.
"Amitav Ghosh is such a fascinating and seductive writer… a deeply serious writer, sure of his human and historical insights and confident in his ability to communicate them. I cannot think of another contemporary writer with whom it would be this thrilling to go so far so fast."
THE TIMES
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