The Inheritance of Loss

Took a couple of weeks break, and now I'm back to reading again. Picked up Kiran Desai's acclaimed second novel The Inheritance of Loss from the library and it's a great read so far. Set in the 1980s, the book tells the story of a judge living out a disenchanted retirement in Kalimpong, a hill station in the Himalayan foothills, and his relationship with his granddaughter Sai. Another element in the novel is the encroachment on their lives by a band of Nepalese insurgents. Another concern of the novel is the life of Biju, the son of Mr. Patel's cook, an illegal immigrant in New York.

Ms. Desai also authored the critically received Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, the book that won the Man Booker Prize in 2006. She has a fresh, new style of writing that reminds me a little bit of Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Shadow of the Wind).