Real Time

In this beautiful collection, Amit Chaudhuri's stories range from a divorcee about to enter into an arranged marriage to a teengaed poet who develops a relationship with a lonely widower, from a singing teacher struggling to make a living out of the boredom of his students to gauche teenager desperate to hurdle past his adolescence. Ripe with subtlety, elegance and deep feeling, this is vintage Chaudhuri.

'Chaudhuri's stories have a wonderful quiteness, depth and accuracy. There is no better writer of the human particulars and subtleties of modern Indian life.' - Ian Jack

'The newest stories are pure marvels. I am in awe of them. Chaudhuri brings into the written realm what others have chosen to leave outside... These stories shine. They are more than an achievement.' - Colum McCann

'The stories in this volume combine the folk-art charm and easygoing improvisations of R.K. Narayan, with the compassion and evocative atmosphere of Chekhov.' - Michiko Kakutani New York Times

'Brilliant... Here, as with Chekhov or Hemingway, the reader not only accepts but relishes the ecomony.' - Guardian

Amit Chaudhuri, the author of five critically acclaimed novels, is a poet, an acclaimed musician, and a highly regarded critic. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia. He has contributed fiction, poetry and reviews to numerous publications including the Guardian, London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, New Yorker and Granta Magazine. Amit lives in Calcutta and Norwich.