Shining Hero

Product Description
A rich and dramatic story of a poor young Indian boy who fights like a tiger to achieve fame and fortune
In a village just outside present-day Calcutta, Koonty, a young girl is squatting in pain beside the river, convinced that her agony is the result of a fish allergy. It's not – she's giving birth and as the realisation dawns on her, she makes the connection with the encounter she had all those months ago with the swimming stranger with the golden bathing shorts… Horrified, she places the baby onto a piece of floating debris, fixes her own necklace around his neck and pushes him downriver. Several miles downstream in Calcutta, the baby is discovered by Dolly, a young married woman desperate for a child. She takes him home and brings him up as her own son, calling him Karna.
And so begins a chain of events which sees Karna's initial good fortune turn to tragedy so that, years later, he's forced to seek out Koonty, now married and with a son of her own…
• Great commercial literary fiction. An enriching, emotionally charged epic story, engrossing and entrancing. A dash of Homestead, a dash of Angela’s Ashes.
• For fans of Amitav Ghosh, Sharon Maas, Rohinton Mistry
Review
‘Sara Banerji is a very gifted story teller – such is the passion and conviction of her narrative. She seems a natural, a writer of great warmth and directness. It must be a serious contender for this year’s Booker Prize.’ The Times
‘It’s not like any other book set in India I’ve ever read – there’s no striving to be exotic – it’s rich, exciting and moving, at ease depicting the workings of a big, affluent landed household, yet equally confident in its dealing with urban street life. This is a lovely, big book.’ Barbara Trapido
From the Back Cover
In a village just outside modern-day Calcutta, a young girl sends a baby floating down a sacred river towards an unknown destiny. Over the years, the river, the golden chain found around his neck, and the hand of fate will link the life of Baby Karna to that of a host of other characters: his teenage mother, Koonty; his half-brother and rival, Arjuna; his destitute foster mother, Dolly; as well as ruthless street children, politicians, pariahs and film stars.
In this enchanting novel, which dips luxuriously into the richness of Indian myth and Hindu legend, Sara Banerji thrills us with the twists and turns of Karna's life. Full of tragedy, surprises and strange coincidences, it takes us on an exhilarating ride from the Calcutta underworld, to Bollywood, up into the Himalayas and culminates – as the brothers' fight for fame and fortune reaches the point of no return – in a race to the death which only one can win.
'"Rich, exciting and moving, with no striving to be exotic – it's not like any other book set in India I've ever read"'Barbara Trapido
About the Author
Sara Banerji was born in England but lived for much of her adult life in India. She now lives in Oxford where she teaches creative writing.