Cry, the Peacock

Anita Desai

Orient Paperbacks

About this ebook

Cry, the Peacock is the story of a young girl, Maya, obsessed by a childhood prophecy of disaster. The author builds up an atmosphere of tension as torrid and oppressive as a stifling Indian summer, both in the crowded, colourful cities and the strangely beautiful countryside.

Maya’s extreme sensitivity never alienates the reader because it is rendered in terms of measurable human loneliness... How well Desai does in the business of carrying her narrative through to a satisfactory, even explosive end.' — The Times Literary Supplement, London

About the author

ANITA DESAI was born in 1937 in Mussoorie but spent much of her early life in Delhi, where she also received her B.A. in English Literature and graduated with honours from the University of Delhi. She made her debut as a novelist with Cry, the Peacock which was followed by an equally well crafted Voices In The City. She was specially noted for her sensitive portrayal of female characters and the alienation of the middle class women in India, and praised as one of the finest of her generation of Indian writers writing in English.