'A towering masterpiece by a writer of genius.'Independent 'A masterpiece of illumination and grace. Like all great fiction, it transforms our understanding of life.' Guardian India, 1975. An unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency. Amidst a backdrop of wild political turmoil, the lives of four unlikely strangers collide forever. An epic panorama of modern India in all its corruption, violence, and heroism, A Fine Balanceis Rohinton Mistry's prize-winning masterpiece: a Dickensian modern classic brimming with compassion, humour, and insight - and a hymn to the human spirit in an inhuman state. 'Magical.'New York Times 'Monumental.'Time 'Astonishing.' Wall Street Journal What readers are saying: 'One of the most layered and beautifully executed books I've ever read ... Easily one of my all time favourite books!' 'Many say that the mark of a good book is that it stays with you; well, I read this several years ago and I still find myself thinking of the characters ... Beautiful.' 'What a storyteller, what a wide canvas he covers of India ... Wonderful.' 'One of the best and most entertaining books I have ever read ... I can't recommend it highly enough.' 'Often heartbreaking, always evocative ... A book to savour rather than to gallop through.' 'One of the best books I've read ... Not a book for the faint-hearted, but it is a book with a big heart.'
Rohinton Mistry is the author of three novels, all of which have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and a collection of short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag. His first novel, Such a Long Journey, won the Governor General's Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, and the SmithBooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award. It was made into an acclaimed feature film in 1998. A Fine Balance was winner of the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, the Los Angeles Times Fiction Prize, the Royal Society of Literature's Winifred Holtby Award, and Denmark's ALOA Prize. It was a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and the Prix Femina. In 2002, A Fine Balance was selected for Oprah's Book Club. Family Matters wasa finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. It won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize for Fiction and the Canadian Authors Association Fiction Award. Born in Bombay, Rohinton Mistry came to Canada in 1975 after completing a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Economics at Bombay University. He has accepted honorary degrees from the University of Ottawa (Doctor of the University, 1996), the University of Toronto (Doctor of Letters, 1999), York University (Doctor of Letters, 2003), and Ryerson University (Doctor of Letters, 2012). He was awarded the Trudeau Fellows Prize in 2004, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005. Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2009, he was a finalist for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize, and winner of the 2012 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In translation, his work has been published in more than thirty languages.
