'Rosarita' Novelist Anita Desai returns with new book after over a decade

New Delhi, Jun 25 (PTI) Exploring themes of memory, grief and isolation, the three-time Booker-shortlisted author Anita Desai is set to return with new novella, "Rosarita", her first in over a decade.
    Published by Pan Macmillan India, the book is scheduled to hit the stands on July 7. It delves into the essence of human connections and the shadows cast by history and personal pasts.
    "The fullness, detail, profundity and pertinence of this 96-page novella leaves no doubt that it is the creation of a virtuoso. Rich and consummate, like a great work of art Rosarita too offers a little more of itself every time we interact with its pages afresh. Anita Desai has once again given us a book for the ages," Teesta Guha Sarkar, editorial director at Pan Macmillan India, told PTI.
    The story revolves around Bonita, a young student from India, in San Miguel, Mexico – where she has arrived to learn Spanish. She is approached by a woman, claiming to recognise Bonita, because she is the spitting image of her mother, who supposedly made the same journey from India to Mexico as a young artist.
    Bonita denies that her mother did not paint and never travelled to Mexico. But the strange woman insists, and so Bonita follows her.
    "Into a story where Bonita and her mother will move apart and come together, as the past threatens to flood the present, or, perhaps, even rewrite it," read the description of the book.
    Desai, one of India's best-known authors, has a series of memorable works to her credit including award winning "Fire On The Mountain", "Cry The Peacock", "A Village By The Sea", "The Clear Light Of Day", "Fasting, Feasting", and "In Custody", which was made into a Merchant Ivory film starring Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, and Amrish Puri.
    The 86-year-old author has received several awards in her illustrious literary career, including the Padma Bhushan, Sahitya Akademi Award and later Fellowship, and the Benson Medal of the Royal Society of Literature.
    Shortlisted for the Booker Prize thrice in the 1980s, Desai also taught for many years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she is now an Emerita Professor.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)