ABOUT THE BOOK

In 'An Equal Music', his first novel since 'A Suitable Boy', Vikram Seth returns with a story both intricate and intimate, rich with music, art, humour and emotion. On one level, it is a story about love, love of a woman lost and found and lost again. A chance sighting on a London bus, a letter which should never have been read, a pianist with a secret that touches the heart of her music: from a multiplicity of details, Vikram Seth once again creates the illusion of life.

It is also a book about music and about how the love of music can run like a passionate theme through a life. Above all, it is a book to savour and re-read. By turns elegiac and witty, it introduces the reader to another facet of Vikram Seth's unique talent.

Vikram Seth was born in 1952. He trained as an economist and has lived for several years each in England, California, China and India. He is the author of 'The Golden Gate : A Novel in Verse', 'From Heaven Lake : Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet', 'A Suitable Boy', 'Arion and the Dolphin (a libretto)', 'Three Chinese Poets' (translations) and four volumes of poetry, including 'Beastly Tales'.