New Releases by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR: 17 short stories “about belonging, desire, and the boundaries of love” from “one of the 20th century’s great female writers”—with a foreword by Anita Desai (Washington Post). “Jhabvala has Alice Munro’s gift for making you feel you’re reading a novel in miniature.” —Seattle Times Nobody has written so powerfully of the relationship between and within India and the Western middle classes than Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. In this selection of stories, chosen by her surviving family, her ability to tenderly and humorously view the situations faced by three (sometimes interacting) cultures—European, post–Independence Indian, and American—is never more acute. In “A Course of English Studies,” a young woman arrives at Oxford from India and struggles to adapt, not only to the sad, stoic object of her infatuation, but also to a country that seems so resistant to passion and color. In the wrenching “Expiation,” the blind, unconditional love of a cloth shop owner for his wastrel younger brother exposes the tragic beauty and foolishness of human compassion and faith. The wry and triumphant “Pagans” brings us middle–aged sisters Brigitte and Frankie in Los Angeles, who discover a youthful sexuality in the company of the languid and handsome young Indian, Shoki. This collection also includes Jhabvala’s last story, “The Judge’s Will,” which appeared in The New Yorker in 2013 after her death. The profound inner experience of both men and women is at the center of Jhabvala’s writing: she rivals Jane Austen with her impeccable powers of observation. With an introduction by her friend, the writer Anita Desai, At the End of the Century celebrates a writer’s astonishing lifetime gift for language, and leaves us with no doubt of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s unique place in modern literature.

This observant and insightful novel reveals, in rich and poignant detail, the interior lives of three generations of people in their quest for love and beauty Louise, not content with her husband''s gentle affection, strives to reclaim her youth in titillating social and spiritual adventures. Her daughter Marietta searches for beauty in lofty ideas and in her obsession for her son Mark, who believes love is to be found in the pursuit of money and young, vacuous lovers. And Leo, their eccentric, self–styled guru, satisfies himself with power–commanding the bodies and souls of his followers. Demonstrating Jhabvala''s deft twists of irony and humor, In Search of Love and Beauty brings several lifespans, full of hopes and ideals, within our grasp.

For her first novel in more than nine years, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has written a most unusual book in a career of distinctive and unique accomplishments. My Nine Lives is "Chapters of a Possible Past," as the subtitle declares. It is, as the author has commented, a book filled with "invented memories." Nine vignettes are linked to portray a rich life filled with searching, from London to Delhi, from Hollywood to New York. Each chapter gathers a different cast of characters, some new and some vaguely familiar, and the linked assembly is as exciting and illuminating as an artist''s first show at a Soho gallery or a new play at the Studio Theater. After seventeen books, now in her 77th year, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala takes on as her subject herself, the life she may have or may have wished to live.

From the Booker Prize–winning novelist and screenwriter of Howard’s End: “Cinematic” and “exquisite” stories of longing, loss, and redemption (Publishers Weekly). In this expansive story collection, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, author of Heat and Dust and the screenplays for The Remains of the Day and A Room with a View, continues her lifelong meditation on East and West. Set in India, England, and New York City, A Lovesong for India reveals what unites us across oceans, cultures, and lifetimes. In “Innocence,” an older couple, whose social standing is marred by a decades–old scandal, rent out rooms in their Delhi home for both companionship and income. The couple becomes deeply invested in the lives of their two tenants, but with the addition of a third renter—a beautiful and provocative woman from India—tensions in the household push the story to its feverish conclusion. “Talent” finds Jhabvala in New York City reflecting on the friction between family and societal expectations. Magda is a talent scout whose work is her entire life until she meets Ellie, a singer whose immense ability and unguarded personality captivate Magda. Soon Ellie is integrated into Magda’s extended family—for better or worse. This remarkable collection is the hallmark of Jhabvala’s celebrated career and a testament to her “balance, subtlety, wry humor, and beauty” (The New York Times).

Word count 24,125

Dans les années soixante-dix. une jeune journaliste arrive à Bombay, attirée par l''histoire d''Olivia, la première épouse de son grand-père. En 1923, celle-ci avait bravé toutes les conventions et ses propres peurs pour rejoindre un prince indien, nabab décadent d''une province musulmane. Cette aventure trouve une étrange résonance dans la vie de la voyageuse... Ainsi se dessinent les portraits croisés de deux femmes qu''un demi-siècle sépare, mais que semble animer une même soif de liberté. Par petite touches intimistes, la grande Ruth Prawer Jhabvala nous livre l''histoire d''une passion qui tend à se confondre avec une quête spirituelle. Avec comme toile de fond l''Inde éternelle, à la fois sombre et flamboyante, cette terre d''accueil où les Occidentaux désenchantés tentent de panser leurs plaies. Couronnée par le Booker Prize en 1975, adaptée au cinéma en 1982 par l''auteur et James Ivory, Chaleur et Poussière est une œuvre forte qui entremêle le passé et le présent de manière émouvante.

In Travelers, Jhabvala examines the unlikely convergence of four wanderers: Asha, an imperious Indian widow, Raymond, a curious Englishman, Lee, an American looking for her spiritual core, and Gopi, an impressionable young student. With a mixture of impassioned dialogue and subtle narrative, Jhabvala examines the psychological and cultural forces that wend their paths into inextricable knots of love and conflict.

Three Continents is a tale of the clash between the easternized West and the westernized East. Twins Harriet and Michael–spoiled, quixotic, and extremely wealthy–have eschewed the vapid world of cocktail parties and adulteries that seems to be their inheritance. In constantly searching to complete themselves, they become the perfect fodder for the charismatic Rawul of Dhoka and his sinister Sixth World Movement.

The saga of an Indian family transplanted to Europe and America. It begins with the great-grandfather, a merchant who emigrated to New York and spent his life writing nostalgic poetry on India. A tale of East and West, the nuances of social conventions and the immigrant''s sense of detached belonging.

Een vrouw vertelt hoe haar 20-jarige dochter door haar even oude nichtje, met wie ze een erg hechte band had, de dood in is gedreven.

Jhabvala, winner of the Booker Prize as well as an Academy Award for screenwriting, has written a haunting tale of the complex and perilous relations between two young cousins, Angel and Lara. A masterful novel which explores the dangers of love and committment. "From the Trade Paperback edition.

From Simon & Schuster, Esmond in India is Ruth Prawer Jhabvala''s novel following a young Indian woman who returns to post-Independence Delhi from Oxford University. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has constructed a richly ripe Indian comedy of manners. She strips bare that certain section of affluent Indian society which is particularly vulnerable to the seductions of an imperial presence, and brilliantly and wittily crystallizes some of the confusions that bedevilled India at the dawn of Independence.

Winner of the Booker Prize as best novel of the year in 1983, Heat and Dust was also made into a major motion picture starring Julie Christie, now regarded by many as a classic.

Om livet i Delhi i begyndelsen af 1950erne for to unge, hvis familier lægger planer for deres fremtid

Six colourful, comic characters inhabit A Backward Place. All but one are Westerners who have come to Delhi to experience an alternative way of life. But, far from being hippies, their ability to adapt to this exotic culture often leaves something to be desired.