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The Firebird
Affecting and stirring, A book that is abundant of life, of darkness, of things lost and things regained. The characters, bustle with life, with a sort of rage at being confined to page, they'd much rather be wandering down the street, in a black mood, in mirth, with curiosity. - Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi This is an exceptional novel, I haven't read anything quite like it. It arises from and hovers, bird-like, over different languages and worlds - Bengali, English, north and south Calcutta, theatre, the magic of dysfunctional middle-class life. - Amit Chaudhuri. For ten year old Ori, his mothers life as a theatre actor holds as much fascination as it does fear. Approaching adolescence in an unstable home, he is haunted by her nightly stage appearances and the suspicion and resentment her profession evokes in people around her, at home and among their neighbours. Increasingly consumed by an obsessive hatred of the stage, Ori is irrevocably drawn into a pattern of behaviour that can only have catastrophic consequences. Political bullies, actor, hairdressers, set boys and backstage crew make up the world of The Firebird, a visceral exploration of a young boy stumbling into adulthood, far ahead of his years.