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It all started in August 1968 when Babo, with curly hair and jhill mill teeth, became the first member of the Patel family to leave Madras and fly on a plane all the way to London to further his education. His father should have known there would be trouble: on the morning of the departure he had his first and only dream, in which strange ghosts threw poison-tipped arrows and all his family was lost... But off Babo went, and now here he is, in a flat off the Finchley Road, untraditionally making love to a cream-skinned girl from Wales, Sian Jones, who he fell head over heels for as soon as he saw the twirl of red ribbon in her hair. Ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-boom-boom-boom.
Theirs is a mixed-up love in a topsy-turvy world, and their two families will never be the same again.
Meet the Patel-Joneses: Babo, Sian, Mayuri and Bean, in their little house with orange and black gates next-door to the Punjab Women’s Association. As the twentieth century creaks and croaks its way along – somewhere out there Charles and Diana get hitched; Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her own bodyguards; cable TV arrives in India – these four navigate their way through the uncharted territory of a ‘hybrid’ family: the hustle and bustle of Babo’s relatives, the faraway phone-line crackle of Sian’s, the eternal wisdom and soft bosom of great-grandmother Ba, the perils of first love, lost innocence and old age, and the big question: what do you do with the space your loved ones leave behind?
In this tender, lyrical and uplifting debut, Tishani Doshi, a prizewinning poet, effortlessly captures the quirks and calamities of one unusual clan in a story of identity, family, belonging and all-transcending love.
Book Reviews
‘I read this book almost in one sitting, and became completely engaged by the characters. I suffered those horrible familiar pangs of literary envy’ Louis de Bernières
‘The Pleasure Seekers is beautifully written, engrossing and – a word I don`t often use when describing a good book – lovely. Emotionally successful families are rare in fiction; they are harder to capture than the disastrous ones. But Tishani Doshi carries it off brilliantly’ Roddy Doyle
‘A beguiling first novel: a gentle, funny and readable tribute to her parents’ marriage … an intensely charming and sweet-natured book … a seductive and lovable novel: it is about pleasure sought and, more importantly, pleasure found’ Guardian
‘The clash of cultures makes up for some very engaging writing … They’re a rather mixed up lot, but then so is the outside world – this family saga is played out against the chaotic background of recent history, from the murder of Indira Gandhi to the arrival in India of cable television. Beautifully written, with a superb cast of characters’ The Times
‘Luminous comedy … her debut novel, brimming with tender humour, has the endeared feel of family history … The episodic narrative has a carnivalesque feel … Lithe and agile, the novel dances its people across barriers of race and nation … the marvels of Doshi’s language and a spirit of merriment create a fictional world in which, as in Shakespeare’s “hey nonny nonny”, sounds of woe convert into marriage’s “tha-ra-rum-pum-pum”, love’s “ba-ba-boom”’ Independent
‘Cross-cultural love story that spans three decades … Laced with charm, and instantly familiar, this is top drawer comfort reading’ Financial Times
User Reviews
ISBN: 9780747590927
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