INTRODUCED BY ANITA DESAI
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Harriet is caught between two worlds. Her older sister is no longer a playmate, her brother is still a little boy. And the comforting rhythm of her childhood in India - the sounds of the jute factory, the colourful festivals that accompany each season and the eternal ebb and flow of the Ganges river on its journey to the Bay of Bengal - is about to be shattered by a tragic event. Vivid, bittersweet, and with a dark undertow, The River is a poignant portrait of a girl teetering on the edge of knowledge.
'The River will make you laugh, make you cry and, in its way, change you forever' JULIE MYERSON
'Her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty' NEW YORK TIMES
'A small masterpiece, a near perfect account of how childhood has to come to an end and the serpent must enter the garden' SPECTATOR