'Skilful dramatisation... the narrative is precariously perched between myth and social reality... for the talent itself, as the novel evidences, is exceptional in its innate sensibility and awareness of the craft of fiction.' — Times of India
ANITA DESAI was born in 1937 in Mussoorie but spent much of her early life in Delhi, where she also received her B.A. in English Literature and graduated with honours from the University of Delhi. She made her debut as a novelist with Cry, The Peacock which was followed by an equally well crafted Voices In The City. She was specially noted for her sensitive portrayal of female characters and the alienation of the middle class women in India, and praised as one of the finest of her generation of Indian writers writing in English.