Baumgartner's Bombay

WINNER OF THE HAROLD U. RIBALOW PRIZE

Baumgartner's Bombay is Anita Desai's classic novel of the Holocaust era, a story of profound emotional wounds of war and its exiles. The novel follows Hugo Baumgartner as he flees Nazi Germany—and his Jewish heritage—for India, only to be imprisoned as a hostile alien and then released to Bombay at war's end. In this tale of a man who, "like a figure in a Greek tragedy . . . seems to elude his destiny" (New Leader), Desai's "capacious intelligence, her unsentimental compassion" (New Republic) reach their full height.

A "beautifully written, richly textured, and haunting story" —Chaim Potok

"A subject new...to English fiction—the experience of Jewish refugees in India." —New York Review of Books

"Desai's artful control of her narrative's agenda results in a compelling fiction." —Publishers Weekly

"Desai merits strong praise for her compellingly realistic descriptions of Indian life." —Library Journal

"A daring and colorful novel from a superb observer of the human race" —New York Times Book Review