"A captivating, lyrical literary work exploring love, and the pull between East and West, and between the modern and the mythic"
Shifting between India and England, Anuradha Roy’s The Earthspinner is a mesmerising, musical, exquisitely-shaped novel that traverses continents and times, following the rise and fall of fortunes, the rise of religious extremism, and the calamitous costs of going against the grain. Infused with art and passion in all its forms, this is a story to savour. A tale that casts a cleverly concocted spell with long-lingering magic.
Sara has left her family in India to study in England, where loneliness drives her to return to pottery, and to reflect on moments and figures from her childhood, including Chinna, the dog that united her community, and Elango, her former pottery teacher, a Hindu who faced extreme prejudice after falling in love with a Muslim woman.
Through Elango’s diary entries we see how he’s driven to create a mythical terracotta horse that bolted into his dream, his relationship with Chinna, and how extremism came to rise in a rural village, sparking violence and pain. Parallel to this, though ten years later, Sara is navigating the challenges of finding a new place in the world.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
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A horse was in flames. It roamed beneath the ocean breathing fire . . .
When he wakes up, Elango knows his life has changed. His dream will consume him until he gives it shape. The potter must create a terracotta horse whose beauty will be reason enough for its existence. Yet he cannot pin down from where it has galloped into his mind - the Mahabharata, or Trojan legend, or his anonymous potter-ancestors. Nor can he say where it belongs - in a temple compound, within a hotel lobby, or with Zohra, whom he despairs of ever marrying.
The astral, indefinable force driving Elango towards forbidden love and creation has unleashed other currents. A neighbourhood girl begins her bewildering journey into adulthood, developing a complicated relationship with him. A lost dog adopts him, taking over his heart.
Meanwhile, his community is driven by inflammatory passions of a different kind. Here, people, animals, and even the gods live on a knife's edge and the consequences of daring to dream against the tide are cataclysmic.
Moving between India and England, The Earthspinner reflects the many ways in which the East encounters the West. It breathes new life into ancient myths, giving allegorical shape to the war of fanaticism against reason and the imagination. An intricate, wrenching novel about the changed ways of loving and living in the modern world.
The Earthspinner features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Romance / Relationship Stories, General Fiction, Fiction, eBooks of the Month, Recommendations
The Earthspinner is available in Hardback, Paperback, Ebook
The Earthspinner was written by Anuradha Roy and published by HarperVia, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
The Earthspinner has 213 pages
