{"product_id":"beautiful-thing-9780857861702","title":"Beautiful Thing","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeet Leela: nineteen, charismatic and fearlessly outspoken. With her sharp wit and stubborn optimism, she is the best paid bar dancer on Bombay''s notorious Mira Road. Leela has a ''husband'' (who is already married), a few lovers whose names she can''t remember, an insufferable mother camping out in her flat and an adored best friend, Priya - the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut when the dance bars are banned, Leela''s proud independence faces its greatest test. In a city where everyone is certain that someone, somewhere, is worse off than them, Leela fights to survive - and win.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA harrowing and heart-breaking account . . . a tour de force of reportage, whose depth, insight and resonance make it the equal of the best fiction. [Faleiro] has portrayed the tragedy of this world without a shred of sentimentality. In this she has done justice to her characters for whom sentimentality - like romance, love and honesty - are luxuries they can rarely afford. *  * Sunday Times *  *\u003cbr\u003eA riveting exposé ... For a book that's so short, Faleiro manages to pack a lot in: pimps, gangsters, transvestites, cops and madams. But its most outstanding quality to my eye is the window it offers on the widespread sexual repression that exists in India today, and the murky middle-class morality that rules it ... The real triumph of \u003ci\u003eBeautiful Thing \u003c\/i\u003eis how Faleiro dismantles the grand tradition of marriage in India, exposing it for what it is - a form of slavery for a large percentage of women who are bound to their husbands for food and the roofs over their heads, but rarely ever for love. *  * Observer *  *\u003cbr\u003eA gripping and intimate portrayal of the lives of the women who work in that industry. She manages to evoke shock, rage and laughter...this book is a moving testament to the girls like [Leela]. *  * Literary Review *  *\u003cbr\u003eUseless to describe the pathos and singular power of this book. Beautiful Thing is, quite simply, one of the finest books on Bombay ever written. *  * Spectator *  *\u003cbr\u003eIn this tour de force of heartrending reportage, Sonia Faleiro shows the ugly brutality which has torn away the foundations of so many lives *  * Independent *  *\u003cbr\u003eThe rich, gaudy tapestry that Faleiro weaves is a reminder that some of the best recent books about India . . . give us the big picture by focusing on the microcosm. *  * Financial Times *  *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeautiful Thing\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliant debut that catapults Sonia Faleiro straight to the top of the premier division of Indian writers of non-fiction . . . \u003ci\u003eBeautiful Thing\u003c\/i\u003e opens up a hidden world with startling insight and intimacy, and strangely is both a tragic monument to the abused bar girls of Bombay and a celebration of their amazing resilience and spirit. -- William Dalrymple, author of Nine Lives\u003cbr\u003eFaleiro writes her way into the bloodstream with this mesmeric book, fashioned with heart and enviable acuity. A shocking, funny and memorable ride. -- Nikita Lalwani, author of Gifted\u003cbr\u003eA rare glimpse into dismissed lives. Sonia Faleiro brings a novelist's eye for detail and a depth of empathy to her work. This is a magnificent book of reportage that is also endowed with all the terror and beauty of art. -- Kiran Desai, Booker prize-winning author of The Inheritance of Loss\u003cbr\u003e. . . With her we hear, we see, we feel and finally know the world behind that door: a world that was unimaginable before Faleiro drew us there, but is unforgettable when the last page is turned, the last beaded curtain drawn to a close. -- Gregory David Roberts, author of Shantaram\u003cbr\u003eThrows the doors open on Mumbai's sex trade. *  * Independent *  *\u003cbr\u003e[Leela's] rich character is sparked to vivid life in a highly coloured work of brilliant literary reportage. *  * Times *  *\u003cbr\u003eSaved from doominess by [Faleiro's] striking empathy, sensitivity, and sharp ear. *  * Independent on Sunday *  *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeautiful Thing \u003c\/i\u003eis a meticulous, moving account of the battle for social mobility and personal freedom in Bombay. *  * Daily Telegraph *  *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeautiful Thing\u003c\/i\u003e is not for the faint-hearted. The stories of the girls Faleiro meets are as brutal as anything fiction could conjure. *  * The Scotsman *  *\u003cbr\u003eRemarkable ... the only hard thing about Beautiful Thing will be putting it down once you've started. ... Truly one of a kind *  * Curious Book Fans *  *","brand":"Canongate Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49406324375895,"sku":"9780857861702","price":13.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/beautiful-thing-9780857861702","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}