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Awards

Betty Trask Award : Winner 2002

Somerset Maugham Award : Winner 2003

Synopsis

In India, at the birth of the last century, an infant is brought howling into the world, his remarkable paleness marking him out from his brown-skinned fellows. Revered at first, he is later cast out from his wealthy home when his true parentage is revealed. So begins Pran Nath’s odyssey of self-discovery – a journey that will take him from the streets of Agra, via the red light disrict of Bombay, to the green lawns of England and beyond – as he struggles to understand who he really is.

Reviews

Critic Review:

‘Delectable, sweeping, empire-savaging, audaciously playful … Kunzru writes with wry certitude and cinematic precision’ 
New York Times

‘Bold, brilliant. Kunzru is clearly blessed with a whole armoury of talents – he’s funny, he can do rude, he can do graceful – and with The Impressionist they’re all deployed to spectacular effect’ 
Arena

‘Grand, sprawling, extravagant, lyrical. A work so vibrant and richly imagined that you can smell the incense’ 
Esquire

‘Exciting, cleverly conceived and dashingly executed. An intelligent, immensely engaging and totally involving tale’
Pioneer, New Delhi

‘Epic in scale and rich in historical detail, the narrative is deft and swift … carrying the reader along effortlessly. This first novel has startling depth, ambition and craftsmanship’ 
Time Out

‘Exhilarating’ 
India Today

‘Marvellous, original and intelligent. Kunzru writes like a master storyteller’ 
Literary Review

‘Riveting stuff, beautifully written … Superb’ 
The Times

‘Epic in scope and ambition … the pace is rollicking’ 
Daily Telegraph

‘Glorious, hilarious. Kunzru has created a book in which we can feel at home in the strangeness of his gorgeous imagination’ 
Boston Sunday Herald

‘Combines a very readable, effortlessly witty style with fantastic imagery, which takes you from dusty, sleepy Agra to hot, fragrant Africa. Brilliant and funny, a must read to while away the languid, sweaty days of summer when the electricity sighs and fades out at noon and the water cometh not’ 
Bulbul Sharma, Today

‘Seriously brilliant’ 
The Times of India

‘Dazzling and vastly pleasurable to read’ 
Independent on Sunday

‘Superb. Smart, entertaining and engaging on many levels’ 
Dallas Morning News

‘Outstandingly good. Kunzru writes with freshness and style’ 
Hindustan Times

‘A dazzling picaresque book about race and empire that can still put a reader on the floor with the exquisitely timed comic understatement. An incandescent first impression’ 
San Francisco Chronicle

‘Enjoyable and wittily inventive. An outstanding first novel’ 
Guardian

‘Magnificent, unforgettable, riotous’ 
Free Press Journal, India

‘A witty, well-crafted comic saga of the dark side of the British Empire’ 
Financial Times

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