An instant best-seller when it was first published in 1940, Night in Bombay deftly traces the destinies of three individuals whose lives are inextricably linked together by chance: Bill Wainright, a rich American businessman; Buck Merrill, Bill's ailing friend who has devoted his life to philanthropy; and Carol Halma, a former beauty queen who was once married to Bill. A passionate relationship blossoms between Carol and Buck even as Bill finds himself falling in love with Carol once again. This love triangle unfolds against the shimmer and bustle of Bombay in the 1930s from the luxury and splendour of the Taj Mahal Hotel to the squalor and grime of the mill workers' quarters. Navigating their way amidst a host of colourful characters, the protagonists are pulled into a vortex of passion, greed, corruption and deception as the novel surges to a powerful climax.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Louis Bromfield, born in Mansfield, Ohio in 1896, was a prolific American journalist, essayist, novelist, playwright, music critic and conservationist. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1927 for his novel Early Autumn. His other novels include The Green Bay Tree, The Rains Came, Mrs Parkington and The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg. In his later years, he devoted himself to pioneering innovative scientific farming concepts. He died in 1956.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
I wouldn't know about Louis Bromfield if he hadn't won a Pulitzer Prize for Early Autumn. I'm glad I've discovered him. A great writer, it's a mystery why he's not better known.
A different feel than Early Autumn, we have Carol who travels to Bombay and finds herself heedlessly falling in with some shady characters who are staying in the same hotel and who are attracted by her beauty like some nasty insects attracted to a light. She finds herself bored and living a meaningless life which has sort of reached a dead end and which she doesn't fully realize until she has something of a spiritual awakening when she meets Buck, a good man who is in India to help the poor. However Buck suffers from attacks, partly from a physical cause but mostly from a mental/emotional cause and which prevent him from doing his humanitarian work. Buck is in need of a healing of his spirit after having lived with a cruel life-killing wife who has recently died and also as a result of a strict joyless childhood. Carol had a good down-to-earth childhood on a farm which, along with her natural kindness, are at her core and just need someone to bring to the surface.
A good match, they are both a healing force for each other and each finds happiness they've never known, but they are in two different worlds. Can Carol who is used to the good life give it up to live in poverty and disease with Buck who is absolutely needed in India and can't leave? And to complicate the issue she is told she is no good for him and she has earned something of a reputation from her association with the shady characters.
I was on pins and needles to see how the story would end and really hoping for a happy ending. Bromfield makes a perfect balance between the possibility of a tragic or a happy ending.
An interesting well--written story with great characterization. You have the good, the bad and then the in-the-middle as with Carol and also Bill, Carol's former husband who has good in him which you hope will win out. It reminds me of the great Iris Murdoch where the bad characters are sordid and ugly and some are so bad as to give you a chill, the weak ones irritate you and get in the way, and the good ones are bound up in complications they are trying to escape, and there's a question of spirituality vs. man-made religion. (You don't have to agree with the whole philosophy as with Ayn Rand, but you can appreciate the questions, the convictions and the humanity.) Bromfield came first, hmm.
But if you don't want to worry about the meaning underneath the story you can just enjoy the story. It just flowed, especially toward the end and I couldn't put it down.
A different feel than Early Autumn, we have Carol who travels to Bombay and finds herself heedlessly falling in with some shady characters who are staying in the same hotel and who are attracted by her beauty like some nasty insects attracted to a light. She finds herself bored and living a meaningless life which has sort of reached a dead end and which she doesn't fully realize until she has something of a spiritual awakening when she meets Buck, a good man who is in India to help the poor. However Buck suffers from attacks, partly from a physical cause but mostly from a mental/emotional cause and which prevent him from doing his humanitarian work. Buck is in need of a healing of his spirit after having lived with a cruel life-killing wife who has recently died and also as a result of a strict joyless childhood. Carol had a good down-to-earth childhood on a farm which, along with her natural kindness, are at her core and just need someone to bring to the surface.
A good match, they are both a healing force for each other and each finds happiness they've never known, but they are in two different worlds. Can Carol who is used to the good life give it up to live in poverty and disease with Buck who is absolutely needed in India and can't leave? And to complicate the issue she is told she is no good for him and she has earned something of a reputation from her association with the shady characters.
I was on pins and needles to see how the story would end and really hoping for a happy ending. Bromfield makes a perfect balance between the possibility of a tragic or a happy ending.
An interesting well--written story with great characterization. You have the good, the bad and then the in-the-middle as with Carol and also Bill, Carol's former husband who has good in him which you hope will win out. It reminds me of the great Iris Murdoch where the bad characters are sordid and ugly and some are so bad as to give you a chill, the weak ones irritate you and get in the way, and the good ones are bound up in complications they are trying to escape, and there's a question of spirituality vs. man-made religion. (You don't have to agree with the whole philosophy as with Ayn Rand, but you can appreciate the questions, the convictions and the humanity.) Bromfield came first, hmm.
But if you don't want to worry about the meaning underneath the story you can just enjoy the story. It just flowed, especially toward the end and I couldn't put it down.
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