Ramchand, a shop assistant in Sevak sari House in Amritsar, spends his days patiently showing yards of fabric to the women of 'Status families', and to the giggling girls who dream of dressing up in silk, but can only afford cotton. When Ramchand is sent to a new part of the city to show his ware to a wealthy family preparing for their daughter's wedding, he is jolted out of the rhythm of his narrow daily existence. For the first time he is brought face-to-face with the other side of the city - one of lavish cosmopolitan weddings; young women drinking coca-cola, wearing jeans and writing novels. His glimpse into a different world gives him an urgent sense of possibility, and he begins to see himself, his 'grubby' life, and his future more clearly.

Buying himself a baffling set of English grammar books (The Complete Letter Writers; Radiant Essays - for Children of All Ages), scrubbing his tiny room and himself to within an inch of his life, Ramchand attempts to make more of his so far, predictable existence. He struggles mightily against the limitations of his circumstances but finds he cannot escape the dark corners, where poverty and violence prove inseparable from modern life.

The Sari Shop is a novel of humour and sensitivity, one that is always honest and sometimes angry about the world it describes. It is a rare and touching work that launches the beginning of a powerful new voice in contemporary fiction.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rupa Bajwa is twenty-six years old and was born and brought up in Amritsar, north India, and she is still based there. 'The Sari Shop' is her first novel and she is currently working on her second.