I bought this book at a very low price in a library sale, otherwise I would never have got hold of it.

It is mostly about an Indian family living in India, Apurva and Mallika Sengupta and their son Nirmalya. Practically nothing happens in the book except that Nirmalya at one point moves to Britain.

They are a musical family and the parents are apparently quite well-known and gifted as regards their singing.

I found there to be several significant problems with the book.

Firstly, I was not acquainted with any of the Indian forenames and found it difficult to distinguish between male and female names. When a forename ended in ”a”, not knowing any better, I assumed that it was a female name; but this often turned out not to be the case.

Secondly, innumerable Indian (Hindi?) terms were used, often without translation; there were perhaps hundreds of these words/terms used. The book was apparently intended only for Indian readers. There should absolutely have been an index of these words/terms at the end of the book to give us non-Indian readers a slight chance of finding out what was going on and what the characters were saying to each other.

Similarly, there were many musical terms used, terms I had never previously heard of, and there should have been an index of these too.

The writing was good, and, amazingly, the book was quite readable and I got through it to the end without really understanding half of it.

I will definitely not be reading any further books by this author, even if I should be offered them for free. ( )

The story centres around Shyamji, singer and musician, the son of a notable singer; one of his students, Mallika, the wife of a successful businessman who herself has a voice that could make her famous; and Mallika's son Nirmalya, an increasing loner with high ideals and a critical outlook. Yet as the story unfolds we encounter many other characters, and as each is introduced given a clear image of that individual, however brief a role they play in the story.

The story follows the relationship between the various characters, and in particular the three mentioned, at a time when Shyamji and Mallika have attained what they will, and Nirmalya has yet to prove what he will achieve, as he considers his future and the direction of his education will take. Mallika looks to Shyamji to promote her as a singer, in turn Shyamji sees in Mallika a source of security, while Nirmalya regards Shyamji with the the shy reverence due his guru.

It is the fine attention to detail which characterises Chaudhuri's writing, and which enables him to convey so vividly the sights, sounds and smells of India. It is a beautifully written book, with three main protagonists who each has his or her own appeal. It is a story about ideals, perceptions and realities. It is above all a story to be enjoyed for the sheer beauty of the prose. ( )