The cauliflower

Set for the most part in nineteenth-century Calcutta, it chronicles the life of 'Uncle', a spiritual leader and guru. Structured in short vignettes that skip backwards and forwards in time, it mixes Hindu parables and myth with descriptions of the often brutal and archaic traditions of the region at the time (and a fair number of haikus) to create a vivid and vital portrait of the birth of modern India. It is a book that plays to her many strengths - it is ambitious, clever, audacious, joyful and utterly unique.