Rohinton Mistry · 1995 · exile

Rohinton Mistry's 1995 novel, set during Indira Gandhi's Emergency. Four strangers - a widow, a student from the hills, and two tailors who have fled caste violence in their village - are thrown together in a cramped apartment in an unnamed city by the sea. As the government's crackdown tightens, their fragile shared life is broken by forces far beyond the city, in the vast cruelty of the times.

1. 1
   The village

   The inland village the untouchable tailors Ishvar and Omprakash flee after caste violence destroys their family, boarding a train for the anonymity and hope of the city.

2. 2
   The city

   The unnamed coastal metropolis (drawn from Bombay) where the four strangers share a cramped flat and a fragile prosperity, until the Emergency's brutality reaches even them.