{"product_id":"nine-lives-9781408878194","title":"Nine Lives","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBeautifully written, ridiculously erudite, warm and open-hearted' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCompelling and poignant' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis is travel writing at its best' \u003ci\u003eObserver \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eInternationally bestselling William Dalrymple takes us to the heart of an undiscovered India.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet - then spends the rest of his life trying to atone for the violence by hand printing the best prayer flags in India. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNine people, nine lives; each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story. William Dalrymple delves deep into the heart of a nation torn between the relentless onslaught of modernity and the ancient traditions that endure to this day.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis most ambitious yet, taking the reader into\u003cb\u003e lurid, scarcely imaginable worlds of mysticism\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Dalrymple has an inimitable way of conjuring the Indian landscape * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eBeautifully written, ridiculously erudite, warm and open-hearted . . . \u003cb\u003eA towering talent\u003c\/b\u003e * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eA blend of travelogue, ethnography, oral history and reportage, \u003ci\u003eNine Lives\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ecompelling and poignant\u003c\/b\u003e * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eThe reader gets the sense that the author is driven by an \u003cb\u003eunquenchable \u003c\/b\u003ecuriosity about a country he loves. Dalrymple never mocks his subjects. Indeed, his prose is often tinged with tenderness and a sense of longing. In dashes of \u003cb\u003ebrilliance\u003c\/b\u003e, Dalrymple’s work reveals an India still rich in religious experience, its spiritual quest – or rather, quests – still very much part of the warp and weft of daily life. Amid all the excitement about economic growth, an older India endures -- Sadanand Dhume * Wall Street Journal *\u003cbr\u003eAt its best travel writing beats fiction, firing the imagination with tales of foreign peoples drawn close by our common humanity . . . This is \u003cb\u003etravel writing at its best\u003c\/b\u003e. I hope it sparks a revival -- Ruaridh Nicoll * Observer *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNine Lives\u003c\/i\u003e remains oddly \u003cb\u003egripping, and often very moving\u003c\/b\u003e, in its first-person accounts of spiritually-minded people that Dalrymple meets on his travels across the subcontinent -- Pankaj Mishra * The National *\u003cbr\u003eFor those who enjoyed Dalrymple’s earlier travel adventures, this latest book is written with the same verve and sense of immediacy . .\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e. In a deft\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eway he shows how the tensions, dilemmas and changes in the lives of these individuals illustrate the vast transformation of Indian society . . . \u003cb\u003eVibrant and engaging\u003c\/b\u003e, Dalrymple paints a compelling portrait of this complex sprawling giant of a country at a time of momentous change -- Peter Kirkwood * The Australian *\u003cbr\u003eHis characteristic \u003cb\u003ewit and sympathy\u003c\/b\u003e are fully evident in the interviews he has conducted . . . Beautifully illustrates the relationship between tradition and modernity in India * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003efascinating \u003c\/b\u003etext . . . It is an index of Dalrymple’s ability as a writer and his \u003cb\u003ecomplex \u003c\/b\u003eimmersion in Indian cultures that he deftly avoids any hint of “Orientalism” . . . Dalrymple succeeds in juxtaposing the sacred and the secular without diverting the captivating flow of his prose. This is \u003cb\u003ea rich book\u003c\/b\u003e, teeming with fascinating characters and places worth visiting; it is a travel book that takes the reader not only across the wide expanse of the Indian subcontinent but also into \u003cb\u003eintriguing \u003c\/b\u003easpects of India’s past and present -- Tabish Khair\u003cbr\u003eDalrymple’s storytelling skills and eye for the bizarre make this a \u003cb\u003efascinating and entertaining\u003c\/b\u003e window onto spiritual India -- Anthony Sattin * Sunday Times, Books of the Year *\u003cbr\u003eA travel writer of \u003cb\u003ehuge talent\u003c\/b\u003e, even \u003cb\u003egenius\u003c\/b\u003e * Outlook *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003efast-paced\u003c\/b\u003e book, moving from the perspective of a Jain nun contemplating the slow and voluntary relinquishing of her life, to the dilemma of the Dalit theyyam who shuttles between his job as a prison warden to his life as a man in the grip of religious ecstasy. These are \u003cb\u003ecompelling \u003c\/b\u003econtemporary stories, and Dalrymple seems to be channelling a modern-day avatar of Kipling * Business Standard *\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eNine Lives\u003c\/i\u003e the author is on the road again, but deliberately takes a back seat, allowing his characters to tell their own \u003cb\u003espellbinding\u003c\/b\u003e stories. Dalrymple’s \u003cb\u003eexhaustive research and deep feeling\u003c\/b\u003e for Indian culture and ancient faiths mean he writes with clarity, erudition and engagement. With his guidance and context, each story reads like a rare insight into a multifarious and often impenetrable culture. \u003ci\u003eNine Lives\u003c\/i\u003e is India at its most pure but also its most fragile. Dalrymple’s stories always strive for a higher purpose than simply recounting adventures in the manner of so much contemporary travel writing. In \u003ci\u003eNine Lives\u003c\/i\u003e, that purpose is to record and conserve these unique, fantastical histories, before they disappear forever -- Kendall Hill * Sydney Morning Herald *\u003cbr\u003eDalrymple is widely read and admired, and Nine Lives is both \u003cb\u003emoving and radiant: an austere, piercing, and exciting book\u003c\/b\u003e on nine \u003cb\u003eastonishing\u003c\/b\u003e religious lives -- Pradeep Sebastian * The Hindu *","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48885557789015,"sku":"9781408878194","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781408878194.jpg?v=1722536895","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/nine-lives-9781408878194","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}