Bookshelf

| browse books |
books
 

| book details |

Great Eastern Hotel

By (author) Ruchir Joshi

| on special |

normal price: R 357.95

Price: R 339.95


| book description |

'Beautifully written' DAILY MAIL 'Heady, sensually described, deeply felt' GUARDIAN 'A maximalist epic that grabs you by the collar' THE STATESMAN 'Riotously audacious and entertaining – cinematic, jazzlike, a humdinger of a novel' KAMILA SHAMSIE ‘A humane and atmospheric love letter to a vibrant and irrepressible city’ DAILY MAIL ‘I can’t remember the last time I read a book as grand as Ruchir Joshi’s Great Eastern Hotel … the city in this novel is a living thing' THE TELEGRAPH INDIA August 1941. The world is at war. At the Great Eastern, Calcutta’s most luxurious hotel, amidst the feasting, dancing and laughter, we witness the metropolis in the last moments before disaster strikes. On the day the revered poet Rabindranath Tagore dies, the city comes to a standstill. Thousands of people line the streets to pay their respects. Amongst them are: Nirupama, a history student and Communist Party volunteer; Imogen, the English daughter of a Raj official; Kedar, an aspiring painter; and Gopal, a young pickpocket who finds himself promoted into a dark, dangerous world. The lives of these four people intertwine with those at the hotel: an American soldier who plays jazz at the nightclub; a genius French chef; an heiress fleeing from the nightmare in Europe; and a group of military officers running a secret intelligence operation. Magisterial in scope, rich in detail and gloriously entertaining, Great Eastern Hotel brings to life India on the brink of independence. An epic tale of belonging, love, art and how individual lives can become swept up in the tides of history. 'Joshi’s ability to render place and time is truly first-rate. I’ve not read a book by an author this year who so clearly loves what he’s writing about' GUARDIAN 'A wild romp that ends with the scent of river water in your nose and the breath of a flute in your ears’ INDIA TODAY ‘If, like me, you have been waiting for a quarter of a century for what Ruchir would write after his dazzling The Last Jet-Engine Laugh, I have some Persian for you: Der aayad, durast aayad. Finally, an Indian epic for our times' MOHAMMED HANIF ‘A film-maker’s novel, so vividly immersive … at once human and epic, a Joycean polyphony of overlapping lives’ JEET THAYIL ‘Sprawling … exuberant …compelling … allow yourself to be immersed in this Great Calcutta Novel that captures both the sweep of history and the pulse of individual lives’ SCROLL.IN

| product details |



Normally shipped | Forthcoming
Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers
Published date | 30 Jul 2026
Language |
Format | Paperback / softback
Pages | 920
Dimensions | 198 x 129 x 58mm (L x W x H)
Weight | 125g
ISBN | 978-0-0071-4394-8
Readership Age |
BISAC | fiction / literary
Expected |

| other options |


| your trolley |

To view the items in your trolley please sign in.

| sign in |

| specials |

Broken Country: AMAZON'S BOOK OF THE YEAR - THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER

Clare Leslie Hall
Paperback / softback
320 pages
was: R 395.95
now: R 355.95
Usually dispatched in 6-12 days

An epic love story with the pulse of a thriller that asks: what would you risk for a second chance at first love?

Theory & Practice

Michelle de Kretser
Hardback
192 pages
was: R 415.95
now: R 373.95
Available from overseas. Dispatched in aprox 4-8 weeks as local supplier is out of stock


The Correspondent

Virginia Evans
Hardback
288 pages
was: R 552.95
now: R 525.95
Available from overseas. Usually dispatched in 14 days


Exiles: Times book of the month 'Stanley Kubrick meets MR James'

Mason Coile
Paperback / softback
224 pages
was: R 520.95
now: R 468.95
Forthcoming

A terrifying locked-room mystery set in a remote outpost on Mars.