The Assassin's Song (Vintage Contemporaries) - Softcover

"A deeply affecting story, full of contemplation and mystery. . . . At once lush and precise."--Chicago Tribune"Thought-provoking and satisfying. . . . There are echoes of Rohinton Mistry, of V. S. Naipaul, of Salman Rushdie. But the lyricism of Karsan's contemplations, the careful evocation of place, the writer's obvious warmth for his characters, the sense of compassion layered into the story--these are all Vassanji's." --The Washington Post Book World"A resplendent novel. . . .Vassanji eloquently details the sufferings of Karsan's family as the price of his individual freedom."--The New Yorker"Moving. . . . A complex, multifaceted drama, one that interweaves history, religion and politics with a vibrant personal story."--San Francisco Chronicle

In the aftermath of the brutal violence that gripped western India in 2002, Karsan Dargawalla, heir to Pirbaag – the shrine of a mysterious, medieval sufi – begins to tell the story of his family. His tale opens in the 1960s: young Karsan is next in line after his father to assume lordship of the shrine, but he longs to be “just ordinary.” Despite his father's pleas, Karsan leaves home behind for Harvard, and, eventually, marriage and a career. Not until tragedy strikes, both in Karsan's adopted home in Canada and in Pirbaag, is he drawn back across thirty years of separation and silence to discover what, if anything, is left for him in India.