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The
2005 Award
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The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji
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Nominated by:
Publisher
of Nominated Editions:
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| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors |
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ABOUT
THE BOOK
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| The
In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a haunting novel of corruption and
regret that brings to life the complexity and turbulence of Kenyan society
in the last five decades. Rich in sensuous detail and historical insight,
this is a powerful story of passionate betrayals and political violence,
racial tension and the strictures of tradition. It is 1953 in colonial Kenya, and eight-year-old Vikram Lall witnesses the celebration of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, even as the Mau Mau guerilla war challenges British rule. Vic and his sister Deepa must find their place in this uncertain world of violent upheaval, confusing loyalties and conflicting ideologies. Neither colonists nor African, neither white nor black, the Indian brother and sister find themselves somewhere in between in their band of playmates: Bill and Annie, British children, and Njoroge, an African boy. These are the relationships that will shape the rest of their lives. We
follow Vikram through the changes in East African society, the immense
promise of the fifties and sixties. But when that hope is betrayed by
the corruption and violence of the following decades, Vic is drawn into
the Kenyatta government's orbit of graft and power-broking. Njoroge, his
childhood friend, can abandon neither the idealism of his youth nor his
love for Vic's sister Deepa. But neither the idealism of the one nor the
passive cynicism of the other can avert the tragedies that await. |
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
| M.G.
Vassanji was born in Kenya, and raised in Tanzania. He took a doctorate
in physics at M.I.T. and came to Canada in 1978. He is the author of four
previous novels, The Gunny Sack, which won a regional Commonwealth
Prize, No New Land, The Book of Secrets, which won the 1994
inaugural Giller Prize and also the Bressani Prize, and Amriika. He is also
the author of a collection of short stories, Uhuru Street.
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall won the 2003 Giller Prize. Vassanji
was awarded the Harbourfront Festival Prize in 1994 in recognition of his
achievement in and contribution to the world of letters. He lives in Toronto
with his wife and two sons. |
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