'A classic of our times ... ageless, tragic, relevant and a reminder of the lessons history holds for us.'-Urvashi Butalia, author and historian

'Manohar Malgonkar is a master of details. Never once, in the sprawling plot of A Bend in the Ganges, does he lose sight of the individuality or agency of each character. In fact, he creates a delicate web of personal lives entrenched within the political framework of a nation at the brink of independence, against the backdrop of the Second World War. Having witnessed Partition, he brings its visceral reality on to the page ... It is the kind of book one returns to again and again, making it that quintessential thing-a classic.' -Aanchal Malhotra, author and oral historian

'A novel of epic proportions about the historic yet tragic years in the life of India as it once was and never was to be again. Malgonkar paints, on a big canvas, a picture of India during the Quit India years and the Partition. He has a miniaturist's eye and an architect's grand vision. As it swings from Punjab to the Andamans to Bombay and Delhi, on to the two sides of the border, you are captured into a fascinating net of the author's working. A great novel, and an even greater thriller.' -Lord Meghnad Desai, author and economist

'The general impression is similar to that which moves War and Peace; the portrayal of the larger tides of human life when something occurs to rouse them to insane fury ... A novel could not convincingly contain more violence than this tale of the subcontinent during the past quarter of a century. It is not likely that we shall be given a more revealing, a more sanely balanced, or a more terrifying account of those years. The paradox of life is there, and out of it the author has made a work of art.' -The Bookman

'His novels are conceived on a large scale, they are full of action, they are exciting stories. They are also valuable documents.' -The Times Literary Supplement, London

'All is done vividly and the author has grafted the political and social background with a surgeon's skill on to moving emotional situations.' -The Sunday Times

Manohar Malgonkar (1913-2010) was an eminent post-Independence writer whom R.K. Narayan once referred to as his ‘favourite Indian novelist in English'. Born near Belgaum, Malgonkar was the grandson of the prime minister of a former princely state of Dewas. He served in the army during World War II, was a big-game hunter, a farmer, a mine owner and an adventurer. Later, he started working as a journalist and thereafter took to book writing. His works are as diverse as his personal life and have a blend of history, romance and military life. Many of his works have been translated into several European languages. In an article published in The New York Times in 1965, he was hailed as ‘one of India's most exuberant storytellers'.