Ancestral Affairs

It is 1947 and Saam Bharucha, a Parsee, is in Junagadh as legal adviser to the nawab to help steer the state through the tricky path of accession to either India or Pakistan. As he struggles with the morality of eating the nawab’s salt while opposing his wishes to join Pakistan, his life changesdramatically. Away from his wife Zarine, he has an affair with Clarire, a British lady, which ends his marriage and creates a rift with his son, Rohinton.

Growing up in newly independent India, Rohinton, too, has his share of deama. Expelled from medical school, sued libel and given a hard time by the beautiful Feroza, his life plays out as a tragicomic counterpoint to his father’s.

Drawing on real-life characters and events, Ancestral Affaire is a family sage with a grand sweep-from the opium wars to the freedom struggle to the Partition of the subcontinent. Seldom have the events of 1947, and their fallout, been described in such humane detail and with such droll humour in Indian fiction.

One of India’s best-known writers Keki N. Daruwalla is the author of more than twelve books, including the novel, for Pepper and Christ (2009), and five collections of short stories. He was given 1984 for his poetry collection, The Keeper of the Dead, the Commonwealth Poetry Award (Asia) in 1987, and the Padma Shri in 2014.