The bougainvillea hung about it, purple and magenta, in…

“Her eyes opened at this sight against her will and she looked around the room almost in fear. But it was dark and shadowy,…

— Anita Desai

The wheel turns and turns and turns: it never stops and stands still.

— Anita Desai

The book begins and ends with the visits to give the impression of a tunnel into their ancestors and family history. I believe in…

— Anita Desai

People think that because I write about India I must be trying to portray India in a way.

— Anita Desai

Someone who wants to write should make an effort to write a little something every day. Writing in this sense is the same as…

— Anita Desai

Do you know anyone who would - secretly, sincerely, in his innermost self - really prefer to return to childhood?

— Anita Desai

Ever since I could first write I have been doing so. When I was taught how to write and read at school, I made…

— Anita Desai

What a sense of possession, of confidence, it gave one to have pockets, to shove one's fists into them, as if in simply owning…

— Anita Desai

I aim to tell the truth about any subject, not a romance or fantasy, not avoid the truth.

— Anita Desai

My style of writing is to allow the story to unfold on its own. I try not to structure my work too rigidly.

— Anita Desai

I try to trace the connection between the characters and that way a story or plot emerges.

— Anita Desai

Isn't it strange how life won't flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, as if it were held back by locks that are…

— Anita Desai

India is a curious place that still preserves the past, religions, and its history. No matter how modern India becomes, it is still very…

— Anita Desai

...the moon that hung over the garden like some great priceless pearl, flawed and blemished with grey shadowy ridges as only a very great…

— Anita Desai

“They never looked at anyone else, only at each other, with an expression that halted me. It was tender, loving, yes, but in an…

— Anita Desai