“It was as if the curtains came down on all this, if not entirely obliterated it, when the monsoon rose up in the thunderous clouds from the parched valley below to engulf the hills, invade them with the opaque mist… — Anita Desai Copy Share Image
“There was no one to whom he could explain that in order to survive he needed to be at altitude, a Himalayan altitude, so he might breathe.” — Anita Desai Copy Share Image
“Her eyes opened at this sight against her will and she looked around the room almost in fear. But it was dark and shadowy, shaded by the bamboo screen at the door, the damp rush mats at the windows, the old heavy curtains and the spotted, peeling walls, and in their shade she saw how she loved him, loved Raja… — Anita Desai Copy Share
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 Copy Share Image
People think that because I write about India I must be trying to portray India in a way. — Anita Desai Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
“The bougainvillea hung about it, purple and magenta, in livid balloons.” — Anita Desai Copy Share Image
Do you know anyone who would - secretly, sincerely, in his innermost self - really prefer to return to childhood? — Anita Desai Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I aim to tell the truth about any subject, not a romance or fantasy, not avoid the truth. — Anita Desai Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I try to trace the connection between the characters and that way a story or plot emerges. — Anita Desai Copy Share Image
