Rosarita

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE SUMMER<BR> <BR>From “world-class writer” (The Washington Post) and three-time Booker finalist Anita Desai, an exquisitely written stunning exploration of love, place, memory, history, and the secrets between a mother and her daughter.<BR><BR>Away from her home in India to study Spanish, Bonita sits on a bench in El Jardin de San Miguel, Mexico, basking in the park’s lush beauty, when she slowly becomes aware that she is being watched. An elderly woman approaches her, claiming that she knew Bonita’s mother—that they had been friends when Bonita’s mother had lived in Mexico as a talented young artist. Bonita tells the stranger that she must be mistaken; her mother was not a painter and had never travelled to Mexico. Though the stranger leaves, Bonita cannot shake the feeling that she is being followed.<BR> <BR>Days later, haunted by the encounter, Bonita seeks out the woman, whom she calls The Trickster, and follows her on a tour of what may, or may not, have been her mother’s past. As a series of mysterious events brilliantly unfold, Bonita is unable to escape The Trickster’s presence, as she is forced to confront questions of truth and identity, and specters of familial and national violence.<BR> <BR>A masterpiece of storytelling from a gifted writer, Rosarita is a profound mediation on mothers and marriage, art and self-expression, and how the traumas from the past can impact future generations.

Vivid and alive, this powerful novella about one woman's belated rebellion against the powers that be is Anita Desai at her finest.<BR><BR>Nanda Kaul retreats to a quiet house in the hills, determined to live out her days in solitude. But the arrival of her great-granddaughter disrupts the stillness she has carefully built, bringing with it memories she would rather leave behind. Fire on the Mountain is Anita Desai's subtle, haunting novel of isolation and memory. <BR><BR>BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

'Anita Desai is a magnificent writer' - Salman Rushdie<BR>'Every new work from her is a gift' - Kamila Shamsie<BR>'Rosarita is transcendent . . . a testament to Desai's enduring genius as a writer' - The Guardian<BR>'Tantalising' - Financial Times<BR><BR>From three times Booker-shortlisted author Anita Desai, Rosarita is a beautiful, haunting novel that explores memory, grief, and a young woman's determination to forge her own path.<BR><BR>A young student sits on a bench in a park in San Miguel, Mexico. Bonita is away from her home in India to learn Spanish. She is alone, somewhere she has no connection to. It is bliss.<BR><BR>And then a woman approaches her. The woman claims to recognize Bonita because she is the spitting image of her mother, who made the same journey from India to Mexico as a young artist. No, says Bonita, my mother didn't paint. She never travelled to Mexico. But this strange woman insists, and so Bonita follows her. Into a story where Bonita and her mother will move apart and come together, and where the past threatens to flood the present, or re-write it.<BR><BR>**Praise for Anita Desai**<BR><BR>Hypnotically beautiful and subtle' - Financial Times<BR>'Bewitchingly beautiful' - The Times<BR>'Profoundly elegiac' - New Statesman