Baumgartner's Bombay - Softcover

"Beautifully observed... Recovers a lost slice of history in its portrayal of a wounded survivor." - "Observer "Hugo Baumgartner, the central character of Anita Desai's dazzling novel, is a wandering Jew all his life. From the agonizing scenes of his childhood in pre-war Berlin, through his spell in business in Calcutta and then Bombay, he simply does not belong. Too dark for Hitler's society, he is too fair for India; he remains a firanghi, a foreigner, wherever he goes." - "Daily Telegraph "Cleverly constructed, and full of sharp perceptions about human nature under the skin, whatever the colour." - "The Times

This novel is the story of Baumgartner's tragic life and death. It examines his childhood in a Jewish bourgeois family in Nazi Germany and his despatch to India where he is interned in a camp. After the war he lives a life of loneliness, ending with poverty and mental instability.