This comprehensive anthology of modern Indian writing, covering about a hundred and fifty years, shatters many illusions about the literature of this continent. Translations from Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, and the south sit alongside writing in English, bringing to light the greatest and most engaging writers from India's recent history. With insightful introductions to the writers and their work, this is the most eclectic, enlightening and enthralling anthology of Indian writing to date.

`A very lucid and engaging selection that, for the first time, sets the quite extraordinary phenomenon of Indian writing post-1981 in a clear context . . . The real revelation, however, is in the twenty non-English-speaking writers represented here' Charles Allen, Spectator

`Chaudhuri is a thoughtful commentator . . . A provocative and persuasive challenge to the orthodoxy about contemporary Indian writing . . . fascinating translations' Robert McCrum, Observer

`There is much here to commend . . . The pen-portraits by the editor, placing writers in their context, are excellent . . . One thrills to the sight of writers of sensitivity and refinement' David Robson, Sunday Telegraph

`The really valuable thing that Chaudhuri accomplishes . . . is to enable us to frame the question of what an Indian literature - not an object but a horizon - might look like' Alok Rai, Outlook