Shiva Naipaul

The Khojas are an important Indian family in Trinidad. At their head is Mr Khoja, piously enshrined by his flock of quarrelsome sisters, and at the bottom of the hierarchy is the girl who becomes Mrs Lutchman, who scrapes a living by running a roadside vegetable stall, the heroine of this novel.

The author brings to life an unforgettable cast of characters set in a tightly knit Hindu community in Trinidad, against a backdrop of the idiosyncrasies of a particular culture and the sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant truths about human society. "A compelling, tragic, painfully comic masterpiece". THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT.