City of Djinns

· HarperCollins UK
4.1
14 reviews
eBook
352
Pages
Eligible
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About this eBook

‘Could you show me a djinn?’ I asked. ‘Certainly,’ replied the Sufi. ‘But you would run away.’

From the author of the Samuel Johnson Prize-shortlisted ‘The Return of a King’, this is William Dalrymple’s captivating memoir of a year spent in Delhi, a city watched over and protected by the mischievous invisible djinns. Lodging with the beady-eyed Mrs Puri and encountering an extraordinary array of characters – from elusive eunuchs to the last remnants of the Raj – William Dalrymple comes to know the bewildering city intimately.

He pursues Delhi’s interlacing layers of history along narrow alleys and broad boulevards, brilliantly conveying its intoxicating mix of mysticism and mayhem.

‘City of Djinns’ is an astonishing and sensitive portrait of a city, and confirms William Dalrymple as one of the most compelling explorers of India’s past and present.

Ratings and reviews

4.1
14 reviews
Aditya Singhvi
21 October 2017
I read this book a long time ago and absolutely loved the inside bits of information that the author lays out about the city. The author definitely tells an interesting story which transports you in this version of Delhi that the author has experienced or is creating. Worth a read amd buy.
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aftab alam
7 October 2018
The book which I purchased has only 25 pages. I was quite eager to read the book but now I feel cheated
2 people found this review helpful
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ABU SADIQUE MOHAMMAD
5 November 2023
to common Indian there is bitter truth, " ignorance is a bliss. William Dalrymple is best to describe the pain like this.
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About the author

William Dalrymple’s first book, ‘In Xanadu’, won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work Award. His second, ‘City of Djinns’, won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award. His third, ‘From the Holy Mountain’, was awarded the Scottish Arts Council Autumn Book Award and shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. He has also published a collection of his pieces about India, ‘The Age of Kali’, and three history books: ‘White Mughals’, which won the Wolfson Prize, ‘The Last Mughal’, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and ‘Nine Lives’, which won the Asia House Literary Award.

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