Fireproof [Hardcover]

Raj Kamal Jha (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2007

In february 2002, a helpless nation watches as the city of Ahmedabad in India is rocked by religious violence. Before sunrise the next day, more than a hundred Muslim men, women and children will be killed, most of them burnt alive. Above the smoke and flames, the dead decide to intervene. So begins "Fireproof", Raj Kamal Jha's mesmerizing new novel, in which the murdered whisper from footnotes and photographs. At the heart of the novel is its narrator Jay - a man who carries with him an unspeakable secret and a newborn baby - and a mystery woman, who writes with her fingers on glass, drawing man and child out of their home and on a journey across the burning city. From the author of "The Blue Bedspread" and "If You Are Afraid of Heights", comes a work of fiction that challenges the way we look at the most twisted events of our times. Evoking both terror and tenderness, "Fireproof" is a compelling testimony to the ordinary nature of collective evil, and to the extraordinary power of individual conscience.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

I looked at the window again. The words had begun to fade as the room inside must have got colder. All I could see now was E P ME, the E of the ME disappearing and as I focused on the remaining letters, there was the blur of a movement inside, I saw a form pass by the window, a hand reach out to wipe the glass clean, draw the curtains closed. I saw the lights switch off turning the window into a rectangle of darkness.

About the Author

Raj Kamal Jha is the author of The Blue Bedspread (1999), which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Eurasia) and If You Are Afraid of Heights (2003). Jha lives in New Delhi where he is executive editor of the Indian Express newspaper. His fiction has been published in over ten languages. This is his third novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan UK; 1St Edition edition (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330493760
• ISBN-13: 978-0330493765
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,246,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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