Table Of ContentPraise for A Suitable Boy
‘The greatness of the novel, its unassailable truthfulness, owes less to research
than to imagination, an instinctive knowledge of the human heart—with all its
varieties of kindness and cruelty, its capacity for hurt . . . As with all the best
books, one feels only dismay when the pages on the right of the tome start
thinning out.’
—Observer
‘So vast and so amiably peopled [A Suitable Boy] is a long, sweet, sleepless
pilgrimage to life. Rich and epical, A Suitable Boy is nonetheless strikingly
unpretentious . . . In 1,400 pages [the novel] covers India like a sun, warming a
whole country in its historical rays . . . It is almost impossible to imagine an
unswayed reader.’
—Guardian
‘Not merely one of the longest novels in English; it may also prove to be the
most fecund as well as the most prodigious work of the latter half of [the
twentieth] century.’
—The Times
‘A phenomenon, a prodigy, a marvel of 19th century storytelling in the language
of today . . . It is hard to believe that Seth is only one man. He writes with the
omniscience and authority of a large, orderly committee of experts on Indian
politics, law, medicine, crowd psychology, urban and rural social customs, dress,
cuisine, horticulture, funerary rites, cricket and even the technicalities of shoe
manufacture.’
—Evening Standard
‘Conceived on the grand scale of the great 19th century novels—War and Peace,
Middlemarch—A Suitable Boy grows to match them in breadth and depth . . .
[A] massive and magnificent book.’
—Sunday Times
‘We should be grateful for this panoramic sweep which revives in our memory a
period when a whole way of life came to an end . . . [Seth’s] sure touch is really
quite incredible, his characters are consistent from beginning to end.’
—The Hindu
‘A quietly monumental novel . . . [Seth] has given that unlikeliest of hybrids, a
modest tour de force.’
—Times Literary Supplement ‘An immensely enjoyable novel which describes
with unhurried pace the panorama of India . . . Everything appears familiar to us,
yet in fact it is newly minted by a master artist.’
—Hindustan Times
A Suitable Boy
VIKRAM SETH
Copyright
A Phoenix ebook
First published in Great Britain in 1993 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson This ebook published in 2013 by
Phoenix © Vikram Seth 1993
The right of Vikram Seth to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by
any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any
form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this
condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All the characters in this book are fictitious.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 7802 2790 0
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK company www.orionbooks.co.uk
To Papa and Mama
and the memory of Amma
Contents
Cover
Praise for A Suitable Boy
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Epigraph
Part One
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
1.10
1.11
1.12
1.13
1.14
1.15
1.16
1.17
1.18
1.19
Part Two
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
2.10
2.11
2.12
2.13
2.14
2.15
2.16
2.17
2.18
2.19
2.20
Part Three
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12
3.13
3.14
3.15
3.16
3.17
3.18
3.19
3.20
Part Four
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11
Part Five
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10
5.11
5.12
5.13
5.14
5.15
5.16
Part Six
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.8
6.9
6.10
6.11
6.12
6.13
6.14
6.15
6.16
6.17
6.18
6.19
6.20
6.21
6.22
6.23
6.24
6.25
6.26
6.27
Part Seven
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8
7.9
7.10
7.11
7.12
7.13
7.14
7.15
7.16
7.17
7.18
7.19
7.20
7.21
7.22
7.23
7.24
7.25
7.26
7.27
7.28
7.29
7.30
7.31
7.32
7.33
7.34
7.35
7.36
7.37
7.38
7.39
7.40
7.41
7.42
7.43
7.44
7.45
7.46
Part Eight
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
8.7
8.8
8.9
8.10
8.11
8.12
8.13
8.14
Part Nine
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6
9.7
9.8
9.9
9.10
9.11
9.12
9.13
9.14
9.15
9.16
9.17
9.18
9.19
9.20
9.21
9.22
9.23
Part Ten
10.1
10.2
10.3
10.4
10.5
10.6
10.7
10.8
10.9
10.10
10.11
10.12
10.13
10.14
10.15
10.16
10.17
10.18
10.19
10.20
10.21
10.22
Part Eleven
11.1
11.2
11.3
11.4
11.5
11.6
11.7
11.8
11.9
11.10
11.11
11.12
11.13
11.14
11.15
11.16
11.17
11.18
11.19
