We’ve selected 12 groups to shadow the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Here we look at one of the shortlisted titles, The Lowland, which will be reviewed by Two Decades of Reading Together and The East London Bookclub in more detail.
About the book
From Subhash’s earliest memories, at every point, his brother was there. In the suburban streets of Calcutta where they wandered before dusk and in the hyacinth-strewn ponds where they played for hours on end, Udayan was always in his older brother’s sight.
As the two brothers grow older their lives, once so united, begin to diverge. Udayan becomes increasingly drawn to the Communist movement sweeping West Bengal. As revolution seizes the city’s student community and exams are boycotted in a shadow of Paris and Berkeley, their home is dominated by the absence of Udayan, out on the streets at demonstrations. Subhash wins a place on a PhD programme in the United States and moves to Rhode Island, never to live in India again – yet his life will be shaped from afar by his brother’s acts of passionate political idealism.
h2. About the author
Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London of Bengali parents, and grew up in Rhode Island, USA. Her short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize 2000 for Fiction, the New Yorker Prize for Best First Book, the PEN/Hemingway Award and was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Award. Lahiri lives in New York with her husband and two children.
h2. Get involved
Have you read The Lowland? Let us know what you thought by leaving a comment below.
You can also read about the other titles shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.
