City of Djinns
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4.3 • 7 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
‘Could you show me a djinn?’ I asked. ‘Certainly,’ replied the Sufi. ‘But you would run away.’
From the author of the Samuel Johnson Prize-shortlisted ‘The Return of a King’, this is William Dalrymple’s captivating memoir of a year spent in Delhi, a city watched over and protected by the mischievous invisible djinns. Lodging with the beady-eyed Mrs Puri and encountering an extraordinary array of characters – from elusive eunuchs to the last remnants of the Raj – William Dalrymple comes to know the bewildering city intimately.
He pursues Delhi’s interlacing layers of history along narrow alleys and broad boulevards, brilliantly conveying its intoxicating mix of mysticism and mayhem.
‘City of Djinns’ is an astonishing and sensitive portrait of a city, and confirms William Dalrymple as one of the most compelling explorers of India’s past and present.
Reviews
‘Delightful … Surely one of the funniest books about India’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Scholarly and marvellously entertaining … a considerable feat’ Dervla Murphy, Spectator
‘Dalrymple has pulled it off again’ Jan Morris, Independent
About the author
William Dalrymple’s first book, ‘In Xanadu’, won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work Award. His second, ‘City of Djinns’, won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award. His third, ‘From the Holy Mountain’, was awarded the Scottish Arts Council Autumn Book Award and shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. He has also published a collection of his pieces about India, ‘The Age of Kali’, and three history books: ‘White Mughals’, which won the Wolfson Prize, ‘The Last Mughal’, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and ‘Nine Lives’, which won the Asia House Literary Award.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The opening of Preston's engrossing latest (after The Wind Comes Sweeping) offers a whiff of mystery as Libby Seager hurls a gun over the side of a cliff into the ocean after driving to the coast from San Jose, Calif. Libby gets into the Mustang she stole earlier that day, and she and Kiwi, her 11-year-old daughter, head south, their only desire to get away from San Jose as fast as possible. They eventually end up at the Sleepy Iguana, a bar in the dusty little town of Sand Flats, where they're immediately taken under the wing of a fellow patron who senses Libby's fragility. Kiwi enrolls herself at the local elementary school, while Libby takes a job waitressing at the Sleepy Iguana. Passages touching on the death of Kiwi's father in Iraq and her mother's steady disintegration as a parent prepare the way for the events that fateful night in San Jose that prompted Libby to flee. Readers looking for an affecting tale of overcoming or at least coming to terms with personal tragedy will be more than satisfied.
Customer Reviews
Ms
An excellent read to get the history behind Delhi before I visit. Will be reading other titles by this author
City of Djinns
A truly remarkable read, totally fascinating and informative .... I've always felt the charm of Delhi, this book has given me a deeper appreciation of her personality. Thank you so much ....