An Atlas of Impossible Longing

Praise for An Atlas of Impossible Longing:
"Every once in a great while, a novel comes along to remind you why you rummage through shelves in the first place. . . . [A]s you slip into the book's pages, you sense you are entering a singular creation. . . . And then, suddenly, you are swept away. . . . This, you think, is the feeling you had as you read Great Expectations or Sophie's Choice or The Kite Runner. This is why you read fiction at all." --The Washington Post
"Roy's prose does not hit a single wrong note: its restrained beauty sings off the page." --Neel Mukherjee, Time Magazine
"Refreshing. . . . [Roy] defines her characters quickly and skillfully, she has a keen eye for landscape, and she knows how private lives can suggest the larger shape of the public world." --The New York Times
"Set in mid-twentieth-century India, this debut novel spans generations and political upheavals, [chronicling] both the strength of domestic bonds and the wounds that parents and children, and husbands and wives, inflict on each other." --The New Yorker
"Epic. . . . [a] gorgeous, sweeping novel." --Ms Magazine
"Impressive. . . . With her rich imagination, vivid descriptions, and skillful handling of events. . . . Roy weaves a tapestry of family life in India. . . . the story and characters stay with the reader for a long time. Roy is a writer to watch." --The SeattleTimes
"Roy's prose soars with a lyricism that can take your breath away. . . . From her whirlwind opening sentences, readers know they're in for a ride." --Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
"A novel to convince us that boldly drawn sagas with larger-than-life characters are still possible in a relentlessly postmodern world. . . . A sprawling epic of love, class and ambition." --Denver Post
"An incandescently evocative debut novel filled with wrenching tragedy as well as abiding passion." --Booklist
"[Roy] is a fabulous storyteller with a true gift for transporting the reader right into the heat, smells, and sights of India. . . . a poetic novel easily read again and again. A complete success and an excellent choice for a discussion group." --Library Journal
"Roy's impressive American debut. . . the sounds, smells, and feel of Bengal come vividly to life. Cultures may differ, but longing and love are universal." --Publishers Weekly
"In An Atlas of Impossible Longing, Anuradha Roy bravely explores love, the caste system, and familial lines in a vivid portrait of war-stricken twentieth-century India. This absorbing story defies prediction. Roy's grace and mesmerizing language stayed with me long after I closed the book." --Katie Crouch, author of Girls in Trucks
"A novel of beauty, poignancy, and gut-churning suspense. . . . A lyrical love letter to India's past--an India of innocent child brides and jasmine-scented summer evenings. . . . Poetic and evocative, Roy's writing is a joy." --Financial Times
"Deftly and sensitively narrated."--The Independent
"A story to lose yourself in.. . . Anuradha Roy is a wonderful writer. . . . this tale of three generations of an Indian family, set over the span of the 20th century, is brilliantly told [and] intensely moving." --Sunday Express
"Roy's novel is engaging from start to finish and difficult to put down."--The Sunday Sun
"Recalls classics from Great Expectations to The Cherry Orchard. . . . Roy's prose is luscious yet economical. Capturing the rhythms of life in rural backwater and big city alike, she strings together jewel-like episodes. . . . giving her story the quality of something remembered." --The National Newspaper
"Now here is a perfect monsoon read: an exquisitely-written first novel that flows limpid and elegiac. . . . you might find yourself unbearably moved by her delicate probing of the fragility of love and longing."--India Today
International Praise for The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy:
"[Roy's] narrative is poised andher language precise and poetic, without being flamboyant . . . a story about love and hate, continuity and change, loss and grief in a convincing and memorable setting."--The Independent
"Anuradha's ability to seamlessly place the private lives of her characters within a larger socio-political setting is what she carries into her second book [as well] . . . at the end of The Folded Earth you feel a firm belief in the redemptive qualities of life and love." --Elle
"A gently perceptive story, half comic and half poignant, of a woman's struggle to forget her sorrows in new surroundings." --The Sunday Times
"Tight with life. . . .Roy's attention to individual words pays off as she conveys the full texture of experiences. . . . Even minor characters are evoked with inventive idiosyncrasy."--Daily Mail
"The Folded Earth is pure pleasure, that old fashioned sort of novel in which one can immerse oneself; an absolute treat." --Business World
"Eminently readable, a literary novel that feels timeless and authentic." --DNA
"Roy has an admirably restrained style and her novel offers a vivid evocation of North India. She conjures up striking images with the lightest of touches." --The Tatler
"A jewel of a story." --The Deccan Herald
"[A] deeply unsettling but beautiful novel . . . utterly enrapturing. . . . As always, Roy's writing remains gently poignant and metaphoric throughout, every vignette and scenario she constructs feels multilayered and deeply meaningful." --For Books' Sake
"A perfect treat . . . Roy brings her characters vividly and amusingly to life." --Country and Town House Magazine
"There is a gentle perfection to the way Roy writes. . . . A beautiful love story. . . . about people who love and long--impossibly?--and love again." --The Hindu
"Anuradha Roy's second novel demands that the reader pause, slow down, savour this work. . . . I hear echoes of Anita Brookner and Edna O'Brien and other writers like them as Roy brings Maya and her travails to life." --Biblio
"A book you will hold close to your heart long after the last page is turned." --First City Magazine