Bibliofile

VIKRAM Seth has also ventured into unknown territory with what his publishers have dubbed "a literary memoir". Two Lives created history even before the first lines were written for the huge advance Time Warner paid to Seth for a two-page proposal. At over Rs 1 million, it was also the highest advance an Indian publisher (Penguin) ever paid to a writer. The book is a memoir of Seth's uncle, Shanti, and his German wife, Hetty. Seth's ambitious new book will span several continents, moving from early 20th century India to pre-war Germany and England, where the couple eventually settled and where Vikram first met them during his days as a student.

The last of the IWE Trinity will be the first to hit the bookshops with her latest offering. In March, Arundhati Roy comes out with yet another compendium of essays titled An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire. The 14 essays will be familiar to Outlook readers but the book also includes the speech she delivered while accepting the Sydney Peace Prize in December. And with Amartya Sen's The Argumentative Indian and Bimal Jalan's The Future of India coming out mid-year, fact may end up overshadowing fiction.